CUViper

Millie and I now have in our possession tickets to two huge concerts:

BFD 2006 — June 10 — Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA — AFI, The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, Echo & The Bunnymen, HIM, Every Move A Picture, DJ Mike Relm, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yellowcard, Panic! At The Disco, She Wants Revenge, Thursday, Wolfmother, Anti-Flag, Hard-Fi, The Sounds, OK Go, The Hush Sound, Street To Nowhere, Birdmonster, The Herms, Day One Symphony, Two Seconds, Dear Kerosene

Warped Tour 2006 — July 8 — Pier 30/32, San Francisco, CA — NOFX, Rise Against, Anti-Flag, Thursday, Motion City Soundtrack, Underoath, Saves The Day, Senses Fail, Against Me, Less Than Jake, The Casualties, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, The Living End, Helmet, Say Anything, Bouncing Souls, The Academy Is…, From First To Last, Everytime I Die, Silverstein, The Pink Spiders, Armor For Sleep, Hellogoodbye, Saosin, Plain White T’s, Greeley Estates, Over It, Amber Pacific, Aiden, Paramore, Emery, Dropping Daylight, Riverboat Gamblers, Valient Thorr, Voltera, Die Hunns

So that’s 24 bands for BFD and 36 for the Warped Tour — a total of 58* bands in just under a month! Of course there will be multiple stages going, so I probably won’t be able to actually see them all. That’s ok — I already have ideas for which ones are must-see and some that are nice-to-see.

It will probably be another month before I’ll be able to hear anything again…

* note that Anti-Flag and Thursday are in both shows

Millie and I finally applied for our passports on Saturday. We almost didn’t make it. I didn’t realize that there was an endurance test required, but we both survived.

I’m referring, of course, to the four-hour wait at the passport office. Why it took so long is beyond me, because it only took a few minutes once we were finally called. Maybe it’s just that other people didn’t have it together before going to apply. Or maybe the employees don’t care how quickly the line moves, so they take their sweet time.

Well, whatever, it’s done now. At least renewals can be processed through the mail, so we shouldn’t ever have to do that again. Now we wait for this-and-that agency to determine that we’re not terrorists, so we can get the actual passports. I’m told we’ll have them by July 5th, but then I was also told that the line was only going to be two hours. I’m not holding my breath…

Several times I've tried to get into running, and I never stick with it. It's all of the usual excuses — I push myself too hard, and then I'm never able to make it a proper habit. I know if I just stick with it, it will get better, but knowing something and acting on it don't always go together. It's a strange disconnect between intellect and emotion, and if I ever figure out an easy way to reconcile the two, I'll write a book and retire. In the mean time I'm going to coin a new word for this: autostruggle.

Of course the basic answer is almost always that you have to condition your body to the shape you want it. This has to be incremental and repetitive. It's boring — but it's effective. Anyway, Millie found a running program called Couch-to-5K, and we're giving it a go. It's a very gradual program, so the first few days have been pretty easy. I think the fact that we're both pushing each other for this may help it work. So we'll see, maybe I'll be a marathon runner yet.

It's still annoying to make time for running though… but I know it's good for me… but wouldn't it be nice to just sleep in instead… but if I keep it up it will become habitual… but… but…

Stupid autostruggling…

Wow — I just advertised my blog out to my family and already I have a subtle comment from my Granddad that’s basically asking when Millie and I are going to get married. He posted an essay that he wrote in 2004 about gay marriage and civil unions, and it’s a very intelligent discussion about an issue that has polarized the nation. I wouldn’t have expected such an open viewpoint like that from any of my grandparents. It is definitely worth reading, so please go check it out…

That said, I’ll try to clear up the “situation” between Millie and me. Yes we live together; no we don’t have any marriage plans yet; and no, that doesn’t mean that we won’t ever get married. I’m really happy with where things are at right now, and I’m pretty sure that Millie feels the same way. When we talk about the future, we talk about what our kids will be like, what kind of house we’ll live in, where we’ll live, etc. I can’t imagine my life without her anymore, and assuming she continues to put up with me, I’m sure we will get married someday. I’m just not ready for that yet, and I don’t feel like we need it.

But rest assured, you all will be well informed when we do decide to take that step, and I promise it won’t be just a random blog entry…

The Arctic Monkeys are playing at the Warfield on May 31st, and I can’t go. Not because I’m busy or out of town or anything. They’re too damn popular — it was sold out in few days. Granted the Warfield is not that big, but still. I am going to try to find some cool shows this summer though. There’s always the Warped Tour, and today I also found out about LIVE 105’s BFD, which has a lot of big names.

LIVE 105 bills themselves as “the bay area’s only alternative”, which is very true. It’s about the only station on the radio I listen to anymore, and as a bonus we get it on a digital music channel at home. There was another station I liked at 104.3, but on new year’s day it suddenly switched gears, and they don’t speak English anymore.

Anyway, they were explaining why all the alternative stations are disappearing — apparently alternative fans are more likely to be filling their iPods with MP3s than listening to radio. I must be the only techie around who doesn’t have an MP3 player. I’ve got every CD I own ripped onto my computer for easy access, but the collection stays there. I think iPods have just turned into that thing that’s so popular that it actually annoys me. But it’s still tempting…