Too much to update, but know life is well and good. Someday when I have more motivation I will document this journey they way it should be, but for now I'll remain lazy. I write to the audience in my head anyway, its not like they can't wait.

Up up update

So here is the latest, I've worked at House of Air for a month now and it is quite possibly the best job outside of being a wrestler or touring drummer I could ever dream of. I work at a place I had dreamt about as a kid, a place with trampolines for walls and where I could learn to do a back-flip and then eventually do a back-flip off a wall. I've done it! I'm having the time of my life because I get to jump on a trampoline anytime I want. Its not only an amazing workout, but the joy I still get from jumping is second to only drumming for me, it is a dream come true in a way.

My co-workers are amazing, the bosses don't hassle me and actually value my input I feel like they take action when an issue arrives, and when I do screw up, they aren't down my throat about it, its just like, yeah don't do that again. It makes me feel like the wait to find a job in this town was well worth the time it took. I'm actually barista trained now, not just Starbucks barista trained which has very little to do compared to the delicate touch required when you have to pack a port-a-filter yourself and not just push a button.

I finally get why people could have a beef with the Starbucks way compared to a barista trained on an espresso machine where you control steam pressure and the outcome of every shot, and drink yourself, its pretty impressive seeing first hand what happens if you aren't consistent throughout the entire process. While i still don't like the taste of espresso, its crazy the difference you can taste when a shot is fast vs slow, it can taste like a battery if you screw it up, it's gratifying when you know you made the shot on time with perfect coloring.

I get paid to do this which is still an almost baffling part to me. I'm very happy at my "job", but I hardly feel that name is a fitting title. I don't mind going in, and in fact want to cover and help out as much as I can. I only wish everyone could love there work as much as I do(I'll stop with the bragging now, but you have to admit...it is pretty sweet)

The Bowie show is coming up fast...I'm nervous which means I care and that is good, I just hope I remember the lyrics...damn I should have watched that show more to get study techniques...actually no, forget that I'll learn my own way and not suffer through whatever washed up star is hosting that show, aaaaannnnnd the tangent is now over. It will be a good show I wish anyone who reads this blog, which at this point is probably only me, you should still spread the word to your friends about the show Halloween night at The SUB!!!!

me too

If you for some reason feel this...ditto

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i am still alive and mostly well

schmuck-dates

Oh yeah I'm supposed to be updating my friends via this thing. I guess I just haven't had too much noteworthy to report. Still no job, still not really great prospects, but while I'm lacking that, I think I'm ok in other areas.

We have a sweet show coming up next week., it should be pretty fun.

I'm getting to do ring crew for FCW next month, maybe twice. To say I'm excited is not even close to the word that describes my joy. I get to put together a ring, which mean I get to be in a wrestling ring, and this will be my first time. I will get to take a bump, I will get to run the ropes. I was so happy when I got this news I could have cried!!! I'm basking in a dream coming true to make me forget the fact I need a job, pretty bad.

Besides potato oles, I'm missing my friends the most right now. Old friends and newer ones. I want to name names, but I won't in case I forget someone and hurt feelers.
I wish you guys were here, you get my sarcasm and humor. Here's to hoping you can visit soon.

New week

Last week sorta kinda sucked hard. I thought I was going to have a job and didn't. Our show at Elbo Room with Photo Atlas was canceled because they wanted to play with jet...yeah the are you gonna be my girl jet...found ants in the apt, girls, man girls are nuts
So I finished writing that last lil' paragraph if you'd call it that over a week ago. Since then I've had an adventure down in Stanford University...hahahaha That was interesting, We played at The SUB with the competition being the secret alley's aids benefit show, and I was again having sorta a shit time. Slowly feeling more sad and lonely then anything. This week is looking up. Today I got to play tennis again, I came out of my retirement in soccer, ending my 11+ departure from the game, took some pictures and have been biking. The other thing is I might be getting a year long job, I have an interview anyway, and I'm hoping I get for the mere fact that A I'd have a guaranteed job for a year, its only 20 hours a week and Mon-Thur job, so weekend are free, and I can find a job on top of this one and be set.
I like this city, and I've made a pretty good friend in Goose. I'll have a picture of him on here below. I've just finished adjusting some pictures I've taken the past week or so. I hope you enjoy.










Gustavo
















Mohawk, bitches.





















Butterfly Bones
- Great dance band





I've been making my pictures so my face is washed out...no reference to Ernest Greene there...So it's on purpose that your cant see my face. Boosh

meh hehehe

So instead of keeping my sappy post, I'll re-direct you to my facebook, to check out the Saturday night photo album, because while drunk Cade at 5 in the morning was feeling somber, up until that point everything else was AWESOME!

flickr crazy

Buying this camera is probably the best thing i've bought in a while. I feel that I can give you a far better vision of how things are looking to me. I'm not trained by any means, but I know how to make a basic composition look ok enough to put me right back to when I was there, in that spot, taking the photo. While I'm no professional, it looks alright to me. I've started a flickr account that you can follow for more pictures. Between there and this blog, I hope you get to come along for the ride with me, because I miss my friends, I hope you miss me too, and that this can bring us together in a sense. Speaking of friends...



Danielle and Jenn got to come be the first overnight guests at the house, and having those two here was a slice of home that I needed...(J-boys jason, jeff, jerrick, leo,etc you're next in getting out here and saying hi) Karaoke was great, as I'll show you, and just the drinking that happens when they are around...every time gets me so so so drunk, and every time we hang out its a riot! They, too, are in talks of coming here soonish so lets hope this happens.



The Elbo Room show is coming up soon...in case you are around San Francisco on the 29th of March.
I leave you with more pictures.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/indiedrummer23/

new camera

So instead of boring you with my talking and nonsense, I'll just show you some photos I took today/last night

kinks in the plan

So it turns out that it takes about a month to start feeling homesick. This is what I'm choosing to believe the source of my funk is coming from. I said I wanted to know what the feeling is like, and now, it's time to deal with it. I'm trying to figure out ways around it, excessive drumming, smoking, going on walks. I suppose the real solution to my funk will be getting a job. Honestly this is the other thing i'm needing to focus on. I've done a little bit, and now I'm just waiting. Wait wait wait wait wait. Wait some more, I'm tired of waiting, but seeing as how I have no control I will try to not let it get to me.
I bought a new camera today. I know this goes against the not having a job and saving money thing, but mine was broken in the wreck, and I want to take pictures so I can document this the way I want to. It was a good buy.
Wrestling at the Cow Palace is this Sunday and I get to see Edge, The Undertaker, Rey Mysetrio, Chris Jericho, CM Punk, this is great! Not to mention that Danielle and Jenn are coming to visit, this week is looking up.
Rival Parties is in the middle of recording our LP. I'm anxious to see how it turns out. I worked on like 4-5 songs today and while I think some of them are good tracks, I may need to re-do some, I guess I'll just have to listen again. (my short attention span is very apparent when it comes to having listen to my drum tracks over and over and over again.
I know this blog is very scatterbrained, I guess the art (if you can call my writing that) is imitating life.

Busy Bee

While it may suck not writing in this as much as I would like, the good news is, the reason I'm not writing is because I'm busy. Here are some of the highlights though...

We have heat, and we have internet, most of the things are out of boxes, and we have played our first show in town and it went very well. I'm still browsing for a job, but not as persistently as I should probably. I'm still not too worried. Mostly my stories all have to deal with what else I've done.

I met this girl named Jenn, and after talking to her once, I was enamored. Not so much in a sexual I want to date you way, but more in an, I want to know more about you because you are just so damn interesting, and have lived a life kind of way. The thing I like about Jenn is that she knows who she is, doesn't change it around anyone, she is completely honest, and we have enough common ground to be friends but see certain things in WAY different light, and it just makes things interesting for me. She is crazy, but in an awesome way. I think I may have finally found a perfect girl situation. There is no pressure to have a relationship, and we can just talk and talk and talk. Thumbs up in my book (hobo thumbs up in Amy's)

We have another show at the Retox lounge tonight and I hope we play as well as we did Thursday. I got way nervous before the show Thursday, like almost un-healthy amounts of nervous. I was putting way too much pressure on myself, but in the end it turned out great, besides I don't think I have ever not been nervous before playing, and when the day comes that I'm not, I may have to re-evaluate things. For now I'll take it as a good sign.

I've finally got to experience the San Francisco rain, and compared to the snow, people out here have nothing to complain about. Yes it is annoying to walk through, but once I get an umbrella (ella ella eh) it'll be all peaches. I'm racking my brain for more to say, but it isn't happening right now, so I'll leave before rambling begins.

here it is...

I know it's been a little bit of time, but not having internet will do that to you. I'm realizing that I can't possibly put EVERYTHING I want to in the blog, and time is short on this one, but I'll fill you in on the important things...

We have a house and are no longer bums!!!!

Yes we have a quaint in-law house on 21st and Geary. We've been unpacking and getting things set up, including the gas to heat our home. One problem with that is they aren't coming for another week, so we get live in frosty territory for a few a little while longer. I'm just happy to have a house where I can play drums (between the hours of 10am and 6pm...seriously...it's in the lease) but that is still 8 hours. Next on my to do list is find a job.

The parties have been fantastic here, and the people just as amazing. Wednesday night Dillon and I met up with his old friend Caroline and we met her roommates, had a dance party in the house, and then took off for a burlesque show for beer week. Things were NUTS that night, it was defiantly a trip. I didn't go to bed until 6 in the morning, and ended up getting an even more extreme haircut on the sides. I would post pictures but I'm feeling lazy now.

Saturday night we went back to the SUB gallery, (where I finally got to see Alex's slideshow call "Red" which was very powerful, top notch job he, and all of the guys at the SUB have done) I did some more mingling (I saw one of the more attractive girls I had seen here, and with the help of liquid courage talked to and got her number...thank you alcohol!!!)

Yesterday I went to the Valentines Day Pillow Fight were more then 1000 people showed up pillows in hand and went to town. I battled for about a half a hour before I was too wiped out but again just something that couldn't happen back in Wyoming without some huge disruption or someone getting hurt. It just shows that people have such a badly conceived notion about people in California and simply put they aren't all stuck up dicks. The people here are so nice and welcoming and while yes I'm sure someone can say they have had bad experiences here with people, I just haven't yet and I'm happy to say that.

There will be more updates at some point but for now I'm going to finish this delicious grilled cheese...

Recent news

So here I sit again at the Best Western on 9th. We are trying really hard to get an amazing 2br mini-house on 21st and Geary and while it is coming together, it still happens to be taking sweet time, so we will shack up here again. Its not that I mind the hotel, its more that I just want to be done with the move fully and get to the job situation. I have applied at a retail starbucks, but haven't heard back yet.
This is taking longer then I thought, but I'm trying to keep positive, what we have lacked of the home/job front, we've made up for in the networking and getting band things together, speaking of the band...









We are now called Rival Parties, and we have three shows lined up, so thats rad! I'm excited to play drums again, I've been yearning for it. This will probably be the longest time I have gone with out drumming for 3 or 4 years, not kidding either. I'm feeling withdrawals and this may be why you see an over-energetic guy air drumming around the streets. At this point I'm sure people are thinking what a bum I am, but when you are a legit bum (which I do not condone for excessive amounts of time, but def try it once) I will take full advantage of it.
I went to the beach again this time alone and this time with pictures to prove I went there.






It still is just so impressive to me, and it's the ultimate feeling in the world to taunt the ocean...playing games seeing how far you can run out in the sand before the water comes to get you...I know endless hours of fun will be spent. I finally get the 90s after being at the beach too. For real. The whole music video vibe of 90s California bands that I hated, I still hate the music, I still hate the bands, but I get where they were coming from now and thats cool.
I will get around to the rest of Saturday night soon... but you can check out http://www.thesecretalley.com if you browse the pictures will will see just how cool this space is.
Thursday we should know or Friday weather or not we have the house, until then I'll keep warm by my parabolic heater in room 59...

Week 1 part 2

Alright so this post is mainly for Thursday night through mid Saturday night.

Thursday Dillon and I were still trying to find apartments and filling out applications for housing and wandering around. We decided to check out of the Best Western because it's not cheap to live in a hotel, and technically at this point we are homeless. One place i looked at was on top of a hill that I could see the Golden Gate Bridge from one side,








and the ocean on the other...speaking of the ocean,
that was the first time I had ever been to the beach, and saw the ocean. It was such an amazing experience and it made me rethink what I had previously. Before it was such a dreary prospect, but being there, it made me realize that no matter what happens that night, if i have to sleep outside or in my car, that I was finally out, I have done it, I broke free of Wyoming, and it was so so so rewarding.

The night started out in the Castro meeting Melissa for drinks at the blackbird. it was a gay club, like the lucky 13 the night before, but I never felt uneasy at all. I know so many people in Wyoming see this town as just flaming, and while yes, it is more open then Wyoming, it is because people don't have to be afraid of who they are here, and that is something so amazing. After parting ways with Melissa, Dillon had to stop at Safeway to pick up cigarettes and I got a nice 24 oz molson to brown bag and walk around in, in true bum fashion.Bumming along the streets of San Francisco,we were on our way to the Encore Karaoke Lounge by the Tenderloin, and that is always a bit of a weary area. We arrived intact and feeling loose. I put my song request in, and the wait was on. I knew it would be at least an hour, but hey the place was busy, songs were good, and the pool is cheap, and this was the first night I finally found girls that were up to my standards in the looks department. I wait and wait and wait, so I had a few beers and a double gin and tonic i have to go outside with Dillon to smoke. So we are outside, its beginning to drizzle and then I hear Cade being called, I run up the stairs, feeling pretty tuned both vocally and in alcohol, but he literally waited 2 seconds and then skipped me. The dj called the next guy up, and like that, I had been skipped. I had to wait to talk to him about my injustice. I explained what had happened and was wondering if I could just go after this man, and because I wasn't tipping (I will view it as that and not because I wasn't a woman, which was highly apparently going on, but I feel no need to blame sexism on this one, he was, but anyway) I'm pissed.

Seeing as how DrunkCade mode has been turned on and I have been wronged my, thought process turns into "fuck this night! I'm leaving now! fuck everything!" I storm out and leave Dillon, I figure I will go back to the hotel, buy a room for myself, and pay the price monetarily instead of sleeping in the rain, which has increased quite a bit. I don't care though, I'm on a mission to get to the hotel! Dillon tries to get me back to the bar, but I'm not having it, even with the intrigue of his friend Thomas "Beard" Landerman getting there soon. I decided it was better to walk through the T.L. by myself in the dark, cold, rain. (yeah I know fucking retarded. made even more so by the fact that when I got to the hotel there was no vacancy so I had to walk back through the T.:. again)
When I got back, I met Beard. He bought me a drink when he saw I was clearly in a shit mood. He is a great man, he ended up taking us back to his place to watch some dvds and crash for the evening, So we are 1-1 in the couch surfing front.
The next afternoon when we wake up, we meet Beard's roommate Chris, who has just unreal clay sculpture that he designs. He is working on the melting Nazi from Indian Jones right now, and the process he describes, with the angles he has to construct things for the molds to peel out correctly, makes what he does even that more impressive to me. The four of us went out for coffee at a little shop with outside seating. We chatted for about a hour and a half, just talking about things from Gary Busey being a serious actor to Dillon's purposed rape photography series, i won't release details since its his project, but it's not rape in the normal sense, it's more of a role reversal.
After we got done with coffee, we went back to my car, which was parked in the Richmond since we didn't have a parking spot anymore, to get a new set of clothes and other such amenities one needs when living homeless out of your backpack. After everything had been gathered, we set off to the Burger King for a snack and more apartment applications, then to FedEx to fax it over to the rental company. We had heard from Chris and Beard that there was a gallery opening featuring sweet street art installations and the art collective Antistrot that I had mentioned earlier, you know the ones that draw like this








I got to talk to two of the guys in the group, who were in town for the debut and they were very nice. We also met Charles...and he was in charge...of security, honest. Charles reminded me a ton of Jeff from Surfside in Ft. Collins, with his yeah I'll talk to you but never look at you, I'm just making sure of everything else around you type talker, and one to give you shit, he got me with essentially whats that on your shirt nose flick...bastard.We headed out in search for this art gallery called The Secret Alley down in the Mission and what happened next was just insane in the best way possible.

On Capp Street I think it was called, we picked the right side of the street,as in direction, not correct, which led us to a door with people watching it and balloons. Dillon asked if this was the secret alley show, In good fashion the doorman replied "Well if I told you it wouldn't be a secret would it" Then went back in forth in this manner for a few rounds and we finally found out that no this wasn't but they too were having a gallery walkthrough and we went in figuring we had nothing to lose, and this time we made the right choice, as in correct, not direction.
We met Johnny Hwin and Alex Greenburg, two of the tennants of this amazing loft. We looked at some of the photography, like you can do here www.alexgreenburg.com
They were playing great music and as we started talking we saw what they were trying to do, was start an artistic group of people and use this loft as a meeting space to do so. This space was to have evens of all kinds and get a kind of artist collective going. They had just moved into the place in June, and this brought Dillon and I back to a Craigslist ad I had found about a similar place and scenario. It was back in June when I found the ad, and after asking if there was a recording studio downstairs we found out that this was indeed the place we had looked at!!!! It is crazy to me that we were standing in one of the places that we wanted to live in. We talked about their projects and they found out we were a band, so we played songs of each others back and forth, and it was crazy how much Johnny's stuff sounds like Dillon's solo stuff, it just clicked and I think all us sorta know that this was the beginning of something. Something epicly cool. Dillon and I by chance while now succeeding on the home front, were established bonds that I have a great feeling will last for a long time. These guys just seem rad, and are talented in what they do, and I feel like I can get in on this thing , its not too late, oh for the people in places like Laramie, or Cheyenne, or Ft Collins, Clovis, Rifton, etc...

After being here, meeting the people, and hearing of what is on the horizon, I highly recommend thinking about making an attempt to get your art out here. It doesn't matter what your talent is, be it music, or acting,or making clothing, photography, painting, ro making big installations, now is a great time to be here. Everyone is so accepting and wanting to help you out in your craft. The networking here has come so much easier then I thought and people are just nice here. I'm feeling a little typed out, but wait until you hear the conclusion of the night, and the next morning...
(hints: it involves another art gallery, a loft with a treehouse/skate park inside, and me going to church...and agreeing with things they say...and maybe even thinking about going back??? OH MY??? I went to the big city and maybe found religion??? stay tuned)

Week 1 part 1

Lots of info for this recap, so I'm just jumping right in.

We got the uHaul into Provo Utah on Saturday the 29th. We met up with my friend from Forest World, Sean and got to see his band play at a venue. Utah people are crazy nice...but in that eerie way almost(this is excluding Sean and his friends, we stayed up eating breakfast burritos, and spent the next morning discussing the finer points of growing up in the Mormon faith and the crazy shit that goes on there)It was crazy to see that reserved lifestyle and hear about it from the people who lived it in the center of the beast. It was good to see him again and though and the next day I finally got the see the Great Salt Lake and the salt flats.




We winded up in a hotel in Reno but after the crazy mountains and driving we didn't gamble much, I was wiped, but we were offered pills by a prostitute with what appeared to be either her most recent client or her pimp in the car next to her...thank you Nevada for the memories!!!

We made it to California on Monday and got our stuff into storage and finally ditched the uHaul (thank god, those suck to drive especially in the city!) We shacked up in the Best Western on 9th st and is where i'm current writing this. We have been in town for a week tomorrow and 5 of the 7 days have been spent in this hotel.





Technically at this point we are with out a real home of our own...in other words we are homeless. We had checked out of the hotel for a few days, Friday and Saturday, finding places to crash on each night, though Saturday was too close of call for comfort.
The first week has been great for me getting to know the city. Tuesday while Dillon was in class, I wandered around the Financial District, followed Embarcadero after seeing the Bay Bridge...
through the Fisherman's Wharf, where I found an amazing arcade with tons of vintage nickelodeons and pianos that played songs by themselves. I played a retro bowling game, and the basketball game with the hoop that moves. Following that up i walked out on a pier and saw the Golden Gate Bridge, and walked up Russian Hill to see the famous Lombard Street...but to me the more famous street is Steiner...and yes I still hear Mrs. Doubtfire say it every time I see a sign.















Wednesday was filled with driving around the city viewing apartments and getting applications. I got to see my first glimpses of the ocean ever. Yes you read that correctly, E V E R! Awestruck is the only was I can sum up what I feel about the ocean, and while I got a sneak peak that day, Thursday I was actually at the beach for the first time, feeling the sand and the sea foam and touching the Pacific Ocean, really seeing it. I still can't imagine how enamored I am with it. I had always thought it was too desolate let the prairie, but it's alive and beautiful. I got to meet up with my old acquaintance Chelsea who I haven't seen in years, and experience that with her, it was good catching up with her.

Back to Wednesday real quick, we saw Jaguar Love, Butterfly Bones and My First Earthquake at Cafe du Nord, and it was a great dance show. If you like Passion Pit, Cut Copy or Hot Chip, you will love Butterfly Bones, I met the guys and they are all way nice, so the networking has been taking off here.

Thursday was meeting my cousin Melissa and her friend Scott for drinks in the Castro, followed by brown bagging a beer to drink and walk on the street and winding up at the karaoke lounge Encore. I have had my second best karaoke performance there the last time I went, but got screwed over by the d.j not giving me enough time to run from outside to the stage, so in my drunken stubbornness I left Dillon high and dry at the bar and decided to take off by in the tenderloin on a Thursday night alone...brilliant choice I know. After walking back to the hotel to find there was no vacancy that night, I had to walk back in the rain, but I'm glad I did because when I got back I got to meet Thomas (Beard) one of Dillon's old friends, who is genuinely just a great guy. He saw i was being dumpy so he bought me a beer and got me back into an o.k. mood.

Waking up around noon Friday we went to get a coffee hangover cure and ended up sitting outside just talking with Beard's roommate and amazing artist in his own right Chris. Man his clay work is just outstanding, and his paintings are damn good as well. We ended up at the opening of 3 different art shows, and all 3 had some great things going on. Chris' gallery had this man, who if I had the money would be in my room, when I get one that is












There was also an installation by this 6-piece Dutch group called Antistrot who all sit down at the same time to make things that look like this













From there we went to the Mission where the night for me will be one I never forget, and were what I had hoped for in this move. I will go into more detail next time, but for now I'm done, since i doubt anyone has read all of this (really just look at the pictures and skim this, that's what I'd do) and I'm tired of rambling on. I'll leave you with a picture of one of my new bffs...