it's 5 days until Law School starts.....last night i spent an obscene amount of money on GIANT and HEAVY books and a new laptop.
kari's heading down to Moline on wednesday while i stay home to finish up my last week of work and spend my nights getting in as much skateboarding and movies as possible before all my time becomes a droning........case study......must read case study.....
but seriously folks, i'm sooooooooooooooo psyched for it to all start!!!Current Music: sonic youth - murray street |
so kari and i just got back from a vacation with her parents in Georgia. Savannah is an amazing town with tons of history, and even more creepy spanish moss. it's a really rad town, and i'd definitely go back sometime.
in other news i had to get oral surgery to fix a botched root canal from a year or so ago. good thing kari's dad is a dentist. he cut my gums with a laser and then peeled them back to get a look at the outside of the root. it turns out the other quack dentist punctured the root, and now there's a hole that got infected. so now i have stitches in my mouth and even talking is kinda annoying.
less than 2 weeks until law school begins.
crud.Current Mood:  exhausted Current Music: holly golightly - laugh it all up |
seriously........less than a month until Law School.....still need to buy books and a lap top.Current Mood:  rushed Current Music: pixies - compilation |
i'm back from the trial....it went really well. the defendant was on the witness stand today and he basically fumbled the whole time and made a crazy amount of contradictions to his previous deposition testimony, one of which included a NEW reason for why he had to fire our client......Sept 11??!?!
i bet the Taliban, Satan, and people in favor of same-sex marriages would feel really bad if they knew their actions on 9/11 led to our client being fired as an RV repairman in Shakopee MN.Current Mood:  amused Current Music: faint - wet from birth |
well, my loan applications are finished and have been submitted....my shoulders already feel a little heavier.Current Mood:  intimidated Current Music: pixies - purple tape |
| » workin out the kinks 2 |
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so last night i had my second 'massage' session. the guy said my back is getting better and that the muscles are slowly beginning to relax. i attribute this triumphant news to the fact that i've finally gotten on an exercise schedule, of sorts, consisting mainly of biking.
during last night's session i also learned that most of the bruising and blood clots (!?!) have settled under the right side of my rib cage. the guy stuck his fingers under my ribs and 'rubbed' the muscles. it frickin hurt.....but i can definitely feel a difference today. oh, and he's gonna let me pay him a considerable amount less per session since i cant really afford to get work done every two weeks for another two months like he recommended = awesome.
in law school news, i'm meeting with my dad today for lunch to help me decide on a Lender to get my alternative loans through....not exciting, but i'll be glad when it's taken care of.
i hope the rain is done for today so jacob reid and i can do some shreddin.
Jul. 7th, 2004 @ 08:49 am
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| » 6 weeks |
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there are only six weeks left until my 'first day' of Law School. crap. what happened to all of the books i wanted to read this summer and what happened to all of the places i wanted to go this summer. i gotta shake off the dust and get moving.
Jul. 6th, 2004 @ 08:56 am
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| » so sue me... |
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well.....this morning i met with a Financial Aid rep. to talk about $$$$$$$. the sweet part is that i went next door to just look around the law school and i found a pamphlet on some summer CLE courses offered. one was on Entertainment Law and representing independent musicians and film-makers. although i cant go to any seminars yet, that would have been a rad one to attend. the best part is that it is given by the Dean of Hamline's Law School.
so today i've decided that i will be one of the following types of attorney (or all):
1. employment (plaintiff only): i believe it's one of the rare forms of law where you can actually make a difference (sounds cheesy i know), but really, 90% of the time our clients really have been wronged by an employer because of their gender, orientation, race, etc. so it can really feel good to slap corporations on the wrist for screwing over their employees just because they think they can. it's one of the closest forms of practicing law that can almost fall in line with your teen-punk-rock-ethos of "fuck corporate America"
2. entertainment(music): this can be a broad one, but it would be rad to represent bands that you really thought deserved a shot (could also ruin your interest in music)
3. entertainment (skateboarding): it's no big secret anymore that 'extreme' sports are making the $$$$$$$$. and the thing is that even the 'corporate' companies like Quicksilver are basically still run by the burnt-out surfers/skaters who started it and their corporate outings involve going to Hawaii to surf for a week (seriously). anyways, i can guarantee that many of those company attorneys were not involved in skateboarding/snowboarding/surfing themselves, so i think it would be pretty rad to get involved with a company as an insider protecting the 'rights' of their riders or copyrights or whatever.
so...i guess you could say i'm basically ready to beat the crap out of Law School...i just hope i'm this excited about it after my first exam.....(vomit).
Jun. 30th, 2004 @ 11:24 am
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| » workin out the kinks |
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so, my back is still sore and i'm probably not going to be able to cruise the concrete wave for another week or two. at least i have another massage therapy session coming up next week. but seriously, it would be nice to have at least one day where i'm not dealing with the dull pain all day.
in other news, i have a meeting with the financial aid office at Hamline on Wednesday. I dont think it's really set in that we're about to go into serious debt soon. but i'm not worried, i'll pay it off after my first case (right?).
next in line is buying a laptop and getting some presents for Kari's 25th birthday (July 26th.
oh, and today i found out that the Pixies added an extra date to their St. Paul show, so i immediately bought tickets for us. totally psyched, brahs = me.
Jun. 28th, 2004 @ 01:59 pm
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| » put me in coach |
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well...my back is still all screwed up. on monday kari and i went to get massages. the guy that did mine was rad because he was more of a 'trainer' than a 'tell me your feelings' kind of therapist. he could tell right away that my pelvis is all out of whack due to an injury from 3 years ago! he spent the next hour and 1/2 stretching my legs and beating my back muscles into submission. it definitely did some good because afterwards i could feel myself standing up straighter. i'm going back again in two weeks.
the worst part of all this is the fact that the weather has been insanely amazing lately, and while everyone else in the world seems to be out sidewalk surfin, i spend my time laying around and being sore. suck-tastic for sure.
the even worse part is that there's really only one month left before law school and i want to get some skating in before i have to spend my free time reading cases for the next three years.
but...in retrospect, it's probably more important that i heal my back as much as i can before school starts because all school is going to consist of is sittin' around and reading, and i'd rather do that pain-free. i can always skate more next summer.
i dunno. i'm pretty bummed about the whole thing.....
Jun. 23rd, 2004 @ 09:08 am
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| » catholic blocked again.......... |
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seriously. in the past 10 years i've had tons of chances to see Sonic Youth live but everytime they're in town, i'm out of town. so why should this year be any different. Sonic Youth is playing in Mpls on July 28, but kari and i are going to be out of town for her birthday (Tybee Islands). oh well, i'm used to it by now.
sub-note: the pixies are touring, sonic youth is touring, all we need now is for Dinosaur Jr. to re-form and tour and it could be the return of the greatest bands ever!
it's funny, when people ask what i listen to, i normally say "a lot of stuff from the mid-to-late eighties and early nineties. and they always respond, "really? wasnt that a crappy time for music." ummm yeah, that's why there are so many rad 'indie' rock records from that time, because the pop music of that era was so bad.
doesnt that mean there should be another rad musical revolution going on right now? is it possible anymore to be 'below the radar', or has PR and marketing swallowed it all.
stay tuned for the exciting conclusion................
Jun. 18th, 2004 @ 08:28 am
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| » bummer for the summer |
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so the city is re-paving the streets in our neighborhood today. you'd think that would be a good thing. yeah, but not when their idea of re-paving is pouring a ton of oil all over the streets and then pouring a ton of tiny rocks all over the place. so basically they turn the streets into gravel roads for a couple of months until all the rocks get crushed into the oil.
what does it all mean?
no skateboarding in our street for the rest of the summer. it was never a 'great' street, but it was at least somewhere to roll around while i waited for jacob to pick me up.
thanks for nothing st. paul.
Jun. 17th, 2004 @ 02:29 pm
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| » I dont wanna be buried...................... |
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I just read that Johnny Ramone has been battling prostate cancer for four years and that it has finally spread into other areas of his body.
i cant really go into it right now, but the RAMONES have been one of my favorite bands for soooo long. i remember rocking out to them in my garage during summer thunderstorms with my neighbors in middle school (and in highschool). we'd grab brooms and hockey sticks and play to the cars driving by. we'd all take turns being our favorite RAMONE (my fav was always Joey). i think i have 30 of their records and even more self-made compilations that seem to be just a little different from each other.
anyways, they are just one of those bands that always reminds me of awesome fun times. so i wish Johnny all the best in his recovery.
Jun. 16th, 2004 @ 09:28 am
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| » what am i.......40? |
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my back hurts, my hip hurts, and my knees hurt. i went skateboarding last night with jacob, but i think it was still a little early for my sore back from sitting in a car for two weeks. but, relief is on the way, today starts my summer training regime and kari told me she's signed us up for hour and a half massages!!! i'm probably going to go to the chiropractor next week too, i think my hips are out of wack due to the back crap.
in other news, I AM OFFICIALLY GOING TO BE ATTENDING HAMLINE LAW SCHOOL!!!!!! and i'm super psyched to actually know where i'm going to be spending the next three years. now i just need to get all the financial aid info taken care of, get a laptop, and buy a motorcycle/or vespa.
interesting note: both my boss and the other attorney in our office both went to Hamline, which means added help on tests and briefs.
sub-side note: i should really start reading these things before i post em, the last entry is filled with typos and mis-spellings. but will i? probably nto.
Jun. 16th, 2004 @ 09:13 am
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| » east coast tour 04 |
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well, kari and i have returned from 2 weeks and 5,000 miles of touring around Canada and the East Coast. here's a brief summary of the most triumphant journey since Columbus.
day one: drove from Minnesota through Wisconsin (stopping in the scenic town of Rhinelander: birthplace of many famous rippers) and then through the Upper Penninsula of Michigan and on into Canada. Our goal was to get as close to Toronto as possible, and after 20 hours of driving we made it to Barrie Ontario for the night.
day two: Drove through Toronto and on to Niagra Falls (for visuals...see that one SUperman where CLark doesnt want Lois to know he's Superman so he lets her almost fall off the falls because he refuses to show her his true identity) then we drove on to MOntreal and back into the US where we stayed in Burlington Vermont.
day three: drove through Vermont, saw a moose, drove through New Hampshire, and then on to Bangor Maine, and then back into Canada via New Brunswick and across the longest bridge in the world on the way to Prince Edward Island (home of Anne of Green Gables, childhood idol of Kari), PEI felt pretty inbred probably due to the $40 charge to get back across the bridge, so we moved on to Nova Scotia after a lobster dinner. After another 21 hours of driving (which caused temporary blindness (i'm not kidding)). that night we stayed in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
day four: we drove along lighthouse route (facing atlantic ocean) to Yarmouth to take a car ferry across the ocean back to the US of A via Bar Harbor Maine. the ferry was HUGE and like a cruise ship with moives and a casino. we stayed in 'Bah Habbah' for the night in one of the BILLION bed & breakfasts (after another lobster dinner and a taste of LOBSTER ICE CREAM).
day five: we toured Acadia National Forest, but the view atop the highest point on the coast wasnt too rad because of the fog and rain. so we drove on to Kennebunkport and then on to Boston after a witch burning stop in Salem. we spent the night in boston in the back-bay area. the cafe we ate at played some Psychedelic Furs (so hot).
day six: our first day of not driving was spent touring Cambridge (Harvard law school) and Boston with a highschool friend of Kari's
day seven: we drove to Hyannis Mass. and took a ferry to Nantucket where we ate scallops (pronounced scahl-lopps) saw harry Potter 3, and stayed in a hostel filled with wasted English girls.
day eight: took a ferry back back to Mass. mainland and then drove through Newport RI and Providence RI (kari is interested in RHode Island School of Design)and we ended up in the north eastern of corner of Connecticut and stayed there for the night.
day nine: we then drove on to Philadelphia via the New Jersey Turnpike and the GW Bridge. we stayed with my friend Dan C. and his wife Katie who have a super rad house outside the city.
day ten: we left our car in Philly and took the train into New York City (Penn Station). my back was all screwed up and bent out of shape by this time so we took it easy this night and ate dinner in Gramercy Park.
day eleven: after some muscle relaxers, we hit the city.....Upper West side, central park, upper east side, sotherby's, an andy warhol exhibit (red book), the Guggenheim, and tried to rus broadway where we saw mandy moore in line for Wicked, and then we ate at CRAFT (which was seriously one of the best dinners either of us had EVER had)
day twelve: Grennwich, SOHO, China TOwn, Batttery Park, Ground Zero, and tried to meet up with Rodbard but both parties were too busy (thanks anyways brah!, visited Supreme skate shop, and Other Music (thanks to rodbard) where i bought the new sonic youth CD & DVD (so hot), and paid tribute to Joey, Dee-Dee, Johnny, and Marky at CBGBs, and then at some shoe store a guy asked about my Dunks and i told him to call Cal Surf and have them send him some of these certain colors so he did that minute and as a result gave kari a HUGE discount on a ton of shoes. we then ate at Pete's Tavern, supposedly an OG bar in Manhattan. our whole time in NYC we stayed in Gramercy with Kari's great Aunt.
day thirteen: took the train back to Philly, saw Dan and Katie for a minute, then headed off to Columbus Ohio to meet the infamous EB (editor of STUCKmag). he treated kari and i to a steak dinner and he and i stayed up reading letters from kiddies acorss the midwest who are into the magazine.
day fourteen: drove to Dayton Ohio to meet Don Pendleton, artist for Alien Workshop. he was insane nice and was so cool to talk to about art, skateboarding, music, pros and whatever. he let kari and i walk around the warehouse and grab whatever I wanted and then when we were leaving he gave me an ORIGINAL PAINTING! i'll never buy from another company, AWS and the rst of DNA is really doing it right. then we drove Geneva IL to visit Kari's cousins.
day fifteen: drove from Geneva and stopped in madison for some food at the Casbah and then headed the last four hours home.
the end.
thanks to everyone we stayed with and met on this tour.
it was a rad trip before law school (which starts in two months). crap.
Jun. 14th, 2004 @ 09:59 pm
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| » this heaven gives me meeeegrain |
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ARRRRRRR me matey! in less than 24 hours kari and i will be beginning the first leg of our East Coast Tour in Canada. but of course, like anytime you're trying to get out of town for any amount of time, there's all kinds of annoying crap going wrong and trying to delay that departure goal. hopefully we'll have some time to get things back in order before or after we go to dinner for my grandma's 84th birthday bash. and i have to uncover our passports for safe passage into Canada, now where are those??? crap. gotta go.
May. 28th, 2004 @ 10:08 am
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| » ...and it's the bomb that will bring us together |
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my back is killing me today. 3 years ago when kari and i were on our western states road trip, I went to a skate park in Arizona and ate shit on my skateboard. the metal edge of a ledge went right into the small of my back. ever since then if i sit all slouched or bent over for too long my back frickin' yells at me. i feel like i'm 40 or something when it does this. so obviously i really need to work on my posture more.
it's also triggered by stress and it's been stressful this week trying to get everything done at work, for STUCK, for 20/40, and for the trip. i did an interview with Kevin Barnes from Of Montreal yesterday, and it went really well. It's so rad when you meet musicians who are actually in tune with what they're doing and not all, "i'm the coolest."
it kinda seems like this road trip is comin at the worst time with gas prices, people coming to MN, and trying to see shows. but, it's still gonna rule. and when are we gonna get another chance to do something like this once law school starts.
oh, and on top of all that i need to go back to the place kari and i got our hair cut last night because the girl who cut mine didnt even cut it. i had to keep telling her to take more off and she made me feel like i was cramping her style. what the hell am i paying you for.....shampoo. anyways, after being in retail for a long time i can understand having days where you dont wanna deal with people, but seriously, now i have to go back tonight to actually get it cut, and i'm not going to have that girl do it again. i hate being "that annoying customer", but im gonna be if i have to. DRAMA!!!
May. 27th, 2004 @ 10:29 am
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| » are we there yet? |
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So....kari and i leave for our east coast tour in three days! it's gonna be soooo rad. we've basically found people to stay with at every stop, except for the Canada tour dates and New York City. I'm probably most psyched to see Toronto, Montreal, Boston (again) and Manhatten. It'll be cool to see Dan C's place outside of Philly too, I wonder if i'll get to check out love park again. last time i was there they had just put up all the salmon colored benches to try and stop skateboarders from shreddin there. i dont think the average person on the street realizes just how much of a city's architecture has been re-designed or manuipulated in such a way to deter skateboarding. it's crazy.
as far a 'law stuff' is concerned. I just turned in my schedule requests at Hamline and I hope i get the morning schedule so i can actually work at the firm once in a while. it's definitely going to be hard to go from making no $$$$ at the skateshop, to making $$$$$ (to us) at the firm, and then back to making no $$$$ while at law school. oh well, i'll just have to cut back on the cds and the all the expensive beer we've been drinking. Premium.........we meet again.
May. 26th, 2004 @ 10:08 am
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| » caustic acrostic |
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I've been listening to Fugazi on the bus rides to and from work for the last couple of days (in chronological order) and I can't help but think about an article i read (i dont remember where) that was talking about how all these 'indie' bands have been selling their songs for use on commercials and crappy tv shows. at one point in the article the writer made a comment (i cant remember the exact comment) along the lines of telling Ian to get off his high horse when it comes to rules of "selling out". the author tried to justify his comment with a point about how The Who sold their songs.
First of all, how the hell is The Who related to Fugazi? Yes, both bands have good songs and both bands have reached legendary status (maybe with different crowds), but what does an arena-rock band from the 70s with major label promotions and marketing teams have to do with a band who formed their own label and have basically been putting out albums on their own and on their own terms for well over 10 years.
I know there are alot of people out there who think Fugazi is too pretentious or kidding themselves with their 'anti-____' views, but seriously, when i was in middle school and in early high school (before i had a CD player) i'd go to record stores and the only tapes i could normally afford were the $6-8 Fugazi tapes as oppossed to the other tapes priced at $10-12. how rad is that? besides, we're always going to need someone to remind us that we could be trying a little harder to be the 'righteous punk-rockers' we always figured we would be when we got older.
sub-note: i havent given anyone 'the finger' in a long time. i declare this summer the summer of 'the finger'.
in other news, i stuck a heelflip off "the bump" last night. and although that may not be the craziest trick or whatever, but i psyched because i've been thinking about doing that trick there for a while now, and then i went there with Jacob and did it. the end.
isnt it crazy that in another 10 years or so, we're going to be referring to bands like Fugazi, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, the Pixies, etc, in the same way that people refer to Led Zeppelin, the Stones, etc. as god-fathers of rock. weird huh? i wonder if there are going to be any rad bands when we're old, or if there's just going to be robots with lasers trying to steal our human souls???? what?! gotta go.
cant touch this
May. 25th, 2004 @ 11:06 am
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| » it's raining its pouring....something about snoring |
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hopefully i'll be able to get our home computer back on line this weekend. it doesnt really make sense to make posts about a day before the day has even really begun. i dunno. i had to walk to the bus stop in the rain today which actually wasnt so bad since i remembered my trusty umbrella (for once).
i finally got out for some sidewalk surfin last night. jacob picked me up and we headed across the river to my old stompin grounds Mendota hts to pick up Reid who is back from his first year of College. it was rad to skate with him again. i remember when he got his first skateboard and i tried to teach him how to ollie. the kid rips. he can do sweeeet backside tailslides (the student has begun the teacher). anyways, we checked out the new Mendota Hts skatepark. what a waste! it's great that cities are building more and more skateparks, but no one ever seems to get it right. but it wasn't a complete waste of time since i finally seem to have my kickflips back (and even better than before) for the first time since I've been back on the board after my broken toe. it still hurts, but it's a different kind of hurt, more stiff than anything.
only one more week before Kari and i leave for our 2 week Canada & East Coast Tour. It's gonna be so rad! I most excited to see Montreal, NYC, and Ohio. Ohio?? you ask. well, Ohio is where the skate magazine i've been writing for is based and it's also the location of the Alein Workshop, Habitat, and SEEK HQ. Hopefully i'm gonna be able to meet Don Pendleton there (the graphic designer for Alien). he's seriously creates some of the best graphics i've ever seen for decks. check some of them out at www.alienworkshop.com. I interviewed him a while back for STUCK, so it would be cool to meet him in person.
well, back to work. speaking of work......my boss is obviously a little bummed on all the days off i'm taking this summer and i can understand (they are pretty numerous) but I figure it's really my last summer to run around. once Law School starts I'm probably (hopefully) going to be spending my summers abroad or doing internships, or working like crazy to try and make a dent in the HUGE debt i'm going to build. oh well, i know he understands and isnt too bothered by it. he's easi;y the coolest boss i've ever had. maybe someday i'll be practicing with him as a partner, he's mentioned it before, but that's getting ahead of myself. i havent even decided on a school yet.
May. 21st, 2004 @ 09:20 am
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