1. If your life were a movie, what would the title be?

Bastardo: A Man With Looks, Nuts, and Guts

2. What songs would be on the soundtrack?

"Wild Child" by WASP, ""Who Wants to Be Lonely?" by Kiss, "Suddenly" by Billy Ocean, "Soul Food" by Goodie Mob, "So Jesus Was at the Last Supper?" by A Minor Forest, "Waiting in Your Welfare Line" by Buck Owens, "Myrtle" by Vic Chesnutt, "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" by KRS-One, "the Cowboy Wedding Song" by Clint Eastwood, and "I Don't Want Control of You" by Teenage Fanclub.

3. Would it be a live-action film or animated? Why?

Animated, I think, because Hollywood insist on casting the fattest bastard they could find to play me. No, WAIT, it would be live action. See below.

4. Casting: who would play you, members of your family, friends, etc?

I would play myself, a few of my friends would play themselves as well, randomly chosen - although Grace would be played by Grace - but all of the rest would be Muppets. Mom is a muppet, Thad is a muppet, Benji Shirley is a goofy ass muppet.

5. Describe the movie preview/trailer.

Muppets of Goodie Mob and myself would lipsync all of "Soul Food" in a funky soul food joint. That would be dope.

Have you guys seen this? It's Hipster Bingo...
http://www.glossosaurus.com/junk/hipsterbingo/

At Upma's. We had water-ice. We're going for breakfast in the morning. Good time had by all.

In Philly today. Last night I saw one of the greatest shows I've ever seen. Scope this, Motorhead, Dio and Iron Maiden. Dio and Maiden were both as good as I could possibly imagine them being.

Tonight, I get to hang with my lovely friend Upma. We're going to eat Ethopian food and hang out.

I am so glad that I'm not in Greensboro, for once.

I walked into the gym last night carrying a yoga mat and an avocado*
The important thing happened after class - driving home - inspiration struck. So for my next photo project I want to do an exercise on the five senses. Either starting with sight (a color series) or touch (a texture series). I plan on hitting the hardware store and fabric store this weekend to buy different textures. I couldn't get home fast enough to sketch and write notes. I also want to take some pictures of wet hair.

*it had rolled out of a grocery bag three days prior and was turning into avocado juice

1. Do you remember your first best friend? Who was it?

The truthful answer to this is that Thad (my brother) was my first best friend. But, it's weird to answer with a family member. My first best friend who really meant anything to me, other than Thad, was a guy named Brent Starnes, who I met in seventh grade. We were best friends right up until the end of high school. After that, our lives went in different directions.

2. Are you still in touch with this person?

Yeah, but not as much as I should be. He's a lot closer to my brother these days, but even they don't really hang. He's been married for a few years and he has a son. I'm happy for him, because he seems to be really happy. His dad died last year. Mr. Starnes was a really good guy. I'm getting sad just thinking about it.

3. Do you have a current close friend?

Not really. I'm closer with John than with my other friends, but still not anything like having "best friend." Andrew (of the band) and I have been becoming very close friends lately. That's a good thing. Honestly, if I was asked to pin someone down as "My Best Friend," I'd probably say Johnny. We talk more often than I talk to my brother. I've been friends with him longer than anyone, but Brent. I value his friendship more than most anybody else. I don't know what it says about me that when asked to choose a best friend, I choose someone hundreds of miles away that I see once every two years, though.

4. How did you become friends with this person?

Ah, you know... Common interests and so on. No good stories or anything.

5. Is there a friend from your past that you wish you were still in contact with? Why?

I wish I was in contact with a lot of people. I don't really want to hang out with them or anything, but I'd love to know what's going on. I had a friend named Jesse, and one named Sean, and Meagan, and Shannon. I hardly ever hear from any of them. Jesse is embarrassed because our friendship ended with him being a drunken, cokehead fuckup. I hear he's better now, but I doubt he'll ever contact me. Sean thinks I don't like him, even though I do. Shannon's got a really serious boyfriend and even though we live in the same town, I never see her. Meagan lives here too, but I avoided her a few weeks ago because I was so bummed about being poor and depressed, that I was afraid she'd think (or know, rather) that I'd turned into a loser. I should track her down again. She's a great person. I keep up with my friend Jami, kind of. And you guys. I try to love my housemates, but often do not.

Friends, christ....

Movies I've seen lately:
Spellbound (though when I watched the real event a week later on ESPN I was very bored)
Whale Rider (New Zealand, feminist coming of age)
Me Without You (pretty real portrayal of the female best friend dynamic)
Laurel Canyon (I heart Francis McDormand)
Charlie's Angels II (moxie + adreneline = summer movie fun)
I just read a book about the history of candy, without having any candy in the house. Mistake.

I'm assuming the Metallica thing is a joke, but I'm not sure on whom and by whom. The link to the official Metallica press release doesn't actually go to the Metallica webpage.

My hatred of Metallica post-1990 is paralleled only by my love of their first four albums. When I listen to Kill Em All my cares melt away. I am in a land of flowers and sun. And joy.

I read Anna's Book for a women's mystery writers class I took in college. I remember liking it. I haven't read any other Ruth Rendell.

current goings-on: reading bunches of books (Coraline, Why Girls are Weird, Midnight's Children, The Pursuit of Alice Thrift, and listening to The DaVinci Code on tape in my car). Went and looked at more houses yesterday with Ted. Most were so-so. But searching the MLS listings is my favorite time suckage activity during downtime at work. Spent some time with my fam this weekend. Mostly eating and shopping, what we always do when together. Shelly - they send their hellos.
Speaking of weddings, I have a friend who got engaged after 8 years + of dating. I went over there last night. The talk was 100% wedding related.

Upma - you put the fab in fabulous. Too bad you're running into so many frogs.

Recently debated question: What's funnier a regular clown's penis, or a sad clown's penis? The consensus seems to be the regular clown's penis. Lately, I've been feeling what that sad clown must feel, though. It's not much of a prize, but why the hell ain't I winning it?

Record stores next to college campuses are quiet as graveyards during the summer. I cannot believe how long this day has been. The only thing keeping me going in the further adventures of Harry Potter.

Spent my last dollar today. That's a weird feeling.

Went tubing down the Dan on the fourth. That was probably the most fun I've had all summer. Maybe all year. It was good group, too. The Hefner-Gibson children came with us. Lavin, seven, got her own tube and had a good time once she got over her fear of the water. And Zevi, one, sat on her mom's lap the whole way down. It was really cool.

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Band tried to learn some new songs tonight. We weren't as successful as we could have been. There's always next week.

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1. What were your favorite childhood stories?

I'm read most of the books a young kid reads, Phantom Tollbooth and Wrinkle in Time and stuff, but what really caught my attention was a series of books about the Three Investigators. The Three Investigators were these kids that solved crimes in California. They had neat badges from the Chief of Police that said they were to be helped with their in investigations, and they had a bitchin hideout in a junkyard. But the best part was that the main guy, the lead character was a chubby kid with glasses, just like me. I dug it.

2. What books from your childhood would you like to share with [your] children?

Part of me would love to give them the Narnia books, which, as I child, I was completely unaware were Christian allegory. Still, I'd be afriad that my kids would be smarter than me and start believing in Jesus because of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe told them to.

3. Have you re-read any of those childhood stories and been surprised by anything?

Well, I was surprised that Aslan was Jesus. I started to reread a few of the Three Investigators books back when my parents moved (in 1994), but never did. I'm not sure if rereading them would be a good thing or not.

4. How old were you when you first learned to read?

I could read some before I went to Kindergarten and managed to stay a little ahead of my class for a long time. So, I guess I was four or five. I really took to it.

5. Do you remember the first 'grown-up' book you read? How old were you?

No, I don't. I vaguely remember finding Stephen King, and that must have been in my tweens. I was impressed by how easy his books were to read. But, I had been reading Star Trek novels before that. That was in 1987, so I guess I was eleven or twelve.

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Quote of the day:
"I don't care who's it is, all dicks are funny."
"Yeah, but mine's black comedy."

1. How are you planning to spend the summer [winter]?
Preparing for qulifying exams. Getting the robot rock Band ready for another performance, on the 26th of July. Writing some music, making some pillows, hanging out with Carolyn

2. What was your first summer job?
I cut grass for people in the neighborhood during the summer for most of high school but it wasn't a real steady summer job. My first summer job came the summer between high school and college as a telemarketer calling people to give donations to cheifs of police, or friend's of the fireman, and similar organizations. It wasn't quite as bad as selling something, but with telemarketing it's all just various levels of hell. I lived through it...barely

3. If you could go anywhere this summer [winter], where would you go?
Iceland, or on a whirlwind, circuitous tour of the US. Visiting all my friends that I haven't seen in more than a year.

4. What was your worst vacation ever?
Vacation's all I ever wanted. I usually enjoy any travel experience. I can't really think of a bad one right now. The most freakish thing that's ever happened was getting hit by a car in Boston, but I had such a great time it didn't even register as a worst or even bad vacation. Besides I feel like it gives me some indie cred (the same way that having to kill a man in Memphis gives you blues cred, well maybe not exactly the same). Again not my worst, but perhpas most treacherous vacation was a quick jaunt to Monster Island with a Robot friend of mine.

5. What was your best vacation ever?
Paris, for a lot of different reasons, it's probably been my most recent planned vacation that was more than just a few days. I mean it's Paris, and I'm J.T., how could anything possibly go wrong.

I'm hosting a Cat right now, I would say Lila is part of the Pillow Room Residency except the only things she's making is a mess out of her litter box, hairballs, and the occasional short meow when it is time for me to pet her. She'll be here through the third week of July.

I found a foam store that sells surplus foam and scraps in reallybig garbage bags for $1 per bag. This is good news for the pillow room. I plan to double if not triple the number of pillows in there this summer.

So I read somewhere that eating local honey helps with allergies. I'm trying that this week.
What are you guys doing for the 4th of July? I'm going to a friend's family lakehouse. I'm excited because the menu started being planned last week (the two cooks are Farmer's Market go-ers.) I'm in charge of beverages, I'm thinking it will be a mojito kind of 4th.