Today marks a year since we lost Christiana. There isn't much I can say that i haven't said already. She was amazing and I miss her everyday. I feel like inserting the required "don't take life for granted" line but that is just a given. This pic of her will just always make me laugh, hope it does the same for the others who need it today. I'm going to look at pictures of kittens now.

No this isn't a reference to my vagina.  I finally have a wee kitten. She's about two months old and a little umm.. active. She has been here five hours and already destroyed a plant. She has a black beard too if you can't tell. So I need a name. She's two tone so ska references are possible. Ideas?

There is a reason I stopped going to rockabilly shows. It wasn't because I didn't like the music.  I love rockabilly. It was because I got tired of seeing the same damn show over and over again. Do you want to just be a cover band?  And do you have to cover the same songs as every other band?  Sure. You're not going to hear these songs on the radio that often so they might be considered "obscure" to some folks. But to us, you know they are not. And it is not that these songs aren't great, they are. But you have ruined most of them for me. Thanks. Oh and fyi: you are not Johnny Cash. Stop it. So top rockabilly songs I could happily live never hearing a band play again.

10. Be Bop A Lula
9. C'mon Everybody
8. Tear It Up
7. Rock This Town
6. Red Hot
5. Boppin the Blues
4. Boy Named Sue
3. Let's Have A Party
2. Good Rockin Tonight
and of course..
We don't want to hear your band's cover of
1. Folsom Prison Blues (ever ever ever again)

So Kelly just sent me a lovely book called the Walk of Shame. Wholesome family reading which I will talk about some day when I am not running late to work. I want to address a much bigger problem then waking up next to unattractive men.  My tolerance isn't what it used to be and last night I proved I can get very drunk on beer alone.  I woke up this morning to find my wallet in front of the computer, leading to the age old question: what the fuck did I buy on ebay last night? I am afraid. 

Flip flops will kill you. There ya go.

So as some of you know, a couple of months ago I embarked on one of the geekiest music projects ever. The plan? To listen to every song on my ipod. Why? Well Christiana used to say "the ipod is the best invention to listen to five seconds of every song you own."  And I gotten into the habit of skipping through half my music when I had it on shuffle.  The music on my ipod is a combination of my library, Kelly's, Aaron's and Badger's.  Some things I had already taken off, like Aaron's penchant for Flipper and some other annoying hardcore bands, and Badger's insistence of having every version of the Barbie Girl song. But there is so much on there that I still find myself saying "I have that?" every once in a while.  Now how long is this going to take? Well like I said, I started this months ago.  While itunes say it will take me 19 days to listen to the whole thing, that obviously isn't true as I do not listen to it 24-7, mainly just on my commute and sometimes at work if I'm doing assembly or something like that.  This week I have finally almost gotten through the Cs. Also the rule I made was this: nothing gets skipped, unless it the same song done by the same band.  This is rather annoying as some things just don't go with your mood and jeebus some jazz songs go on for fucking ever.  But you also start to notice some things like..
- Words that start songs titles run in patterns. So far:
All: 47 songs
Baby: only 14 songs! Must not have as much rockabilly on there as I thought.
Ballad: 12 songs.. not that many but all in a row thats a lot of ballads
Big: 42 songs.. I think is partially thanks to Judge Dread
Come: 25 songs..
Crazy: Only 16.
Cry: 15 songs..
That's as far as I've gotten so far. Will let you know more.. I have a feeling songs that start with Dead, Evil and Skinhead are going to take a couple of days on their own.
-Wondering who the hell put that much Skrewdriver on there. Four versions of Anti-social.
-There is no appropiate time for Gloria Estefan to come on (not my doing. I am looking at you Stover).  But I was very nervous that someone was going to walk into the recording room I was in while I was listening to.
-I spent so many years bypassing the Exploited I forgot I actually liked them. Who knew?
-Some songs will always make me happy. I am not ashamed to admit that I Rancid still makes me smile.
-Some songs are just too closely associated with relationships.
-I truly want to be in love in a Descendents song.
-I stopped listening to much of my country while I was in New York.  I'm not sure if it just felt inappropiate in that world or what. But Jennings and Haggard still make me want to sit on the back porch of a bar and drink a beer.
-And it is really hard to break the skipping songs habit.

Judging by how long this has taken me so far, I will probably be done around this winter.  I do take breaks some times and listen to whole albums but the shuffle option is no longer used unless I am at home.  This whole idea might sound geeky to some but I am really am getting reaqquainted with my music.

Ok I am ammending the apartment blog to specifically address the transportation comment.  Public transportation during the day is fine.  There are buses, rails and subways.  Philly also has car share (which is like zip car but way better)
Car Share
I just don't have the money to use that at the moment. What I should have said is that public transportation at night is just too much of a pain in the ass. For example, last night the Arkhams were playing at the El Bar. I really wanted to go and looked at the Septa trip planner to figure out how I would get there and back. This was the answer, if I I left around nine and headed back when bars close (bars here generally close at two, or so i have been told).

To the bar:
9:00 pm Walk 5 min
Dept 09:01 PM  Bus 22
Arrive  09:05 PM at Glenside Station
Dept 09:15 PM Rail R5
Arrive 09:40 PM at Market East Station
Dept 09:51 PM Subway MFL
Arrive 09:58 PM at MFL Girard, PA
Walk 5 min..

Okay that outgoing trip isn't too bad. Dodgy yes but not extremely undoable. It is is however the return that keeps me from going out. I have no idea how much a cab would be to wear I live but I am betting it isn't cheap. So the return:

Walk 5 min
Dept 01:58 am, Bus 15
Arrive 2:01 am
then wait for 30 minutes!!
Dept 2:35 am, Bus 47
Arrive at 2:59 am
wait another 30 minutes!
Dept at 3:30 am Bus 18
Arrive at 3:51 am
Walk four minutes...

So until I have an alternate mode of transportation I just can't see myself safely going out in Philly proper. There is no way I will be waiting ANYWHERE in Philadelphia for a bus for half an  hour at two oclock in the morning.This town just isn't as safe as New York.  (and for those of you who don't live in NYC, that town is one of the safest in America right now. Someone I work with compared Philly to Mayberry in terms of police force)
I think things will change once I get out of the financial hole moving put me into but until then, just dealing with being homebound and not being my normal social butterfly self .

So here I am in Philadelphia, stuck in my apartment and my neighborhood.  I miss NYC public transit a lot. To get where anything is actually happening is just too difficult without a car. The good thing is to get to and from work takes very little time at all and my neighborhood is fairly safe (for Philly standards).  I probably wouldn't mind being a homebody as much if I actually had some furniture but I am super broke while I wait to get paid and for some checks to come in.  But I do have some plans for my place.  There have been requests for pictures and so here in all its broke and empty glory is my apartment. So these are the before shots. Expect huge changes here this summer.. starting with an actual fucking bed. You're gonna see how much glorious wall space I have. I think I have what I want picked out but its secret for now. I know how everyone loves surprises. And if anyone in this area has a car and wants to take me out and buy me a beer, I wouldn't mind at all (haven't had a drink since I left New York and boy could I use one).

Overall shot of the living room and hall. Notice the fabulous tv and computer set up. I live it up. At least I have cable. And not sure if you can but there are TWO closets in that hall with kick ass shelves in them.



I'm not sure if you can how big this space is but it is going to be where my dining room set and desk go:



Super cute window shelf in the living room:



My harem style air mattress. If you are going to slum it, do it with sateen.



Tom. My pet vulture (fuck your teddy bears. He is much better)



Standard apartment kitchen (with extra door to another hallway. Why? Beats the hell out of me..



Did you notice the step stool? I no longer live with a tall person..



The wall space in my dining room hall yearns for pictures  (and for me to take out empty boxes):





The oh so empty bedroom.. so much carpet.. but another shelf for me to work with..







And my favorite room.. the pink and blue bathroom.. I realized I didn't take a picture of the tub but its blue! Hooray! (currently I have monster green towels and a purple rugs.. it is so colorful in there) There is also a chrome medicine cabinet but I couldn't get a good shot.

Yes I need to figure out how to clean this grout but I love the floor



the fun pattern on the shower


The cute blow soap holder thingies



and the best light fixture ever:



So yes. It is empty and needs work. But it is pretty damn big and cheap. It is going to be amazing.

xoxo

My job offer just came through. I am moving to Philadelphia (hopefully on May 12, job starts the 14th). My going away party is May 10, Tiki Boys @ Ottos.
I will post more details later when I have time (oh yeah, so if you couldn't figure it out, I'm not going to Texas).

My job offer just came through. I am moving to Philadelphia (hopefully on May 12, job starts the 14th). My going away party is May 10, Tiki Boys @ Ottos.
I will post more details later when I have time (oh yeah, so if you couldn't figure it out, I'm not going to Texas).