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grey as sun

Thursday, June 29, 2006

missile

I got my dad some cigars yesterday - A box of Rocky Patel "Edge" in the "Missile" size. The other one was the "Toro" but that was smaller (although more came in a box). The whole thing was crazy if you ask me - I'm not even sure I got the names for the sizes right up there.

The store was in Old Town, called "Up/Down Cigars" or something - It's run by a bunch of chicks. I was afraid of breaking everything in the place, cause it's all... fragile looking. In terms of selection, though, it seems to have beat out my current cigar shop, Hubbard State Cigar. Time will tell, it's usually all about the inventory, not the selection - if that makes sense.

I desperately need a vacuum people - I can't start moving things into my new room until I vacuum it first. Once I do that, I have plans in my head about the way I want things to look, so I'm hoping it goes my way.

I dreamt about all of my plants being dead last night. And then I felt really really bad and couldn't sleep very well. During all of this, I realized how badly I need a new mattress. If any of you have a full size mattress somewhere, hit me up!

So far, my phone is working great - although it doesn't have much of a memory for voice dialing. I'm a little upset about that.

So this weekend will be spent figuring out my house and placement and colors and everything that I need to get this show on the road. Sound good? Yes... I think it does sound QUITE good...

I'm gonna get outta here - Oh yea, go by Minibar this weekend and check out the window next door to it - I designed it :-).

xoxoxo

posted by grey as mike @ 1:51 PM 1 comments

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

razr

That's what I got - I FINALLY got a phone that I don't have to use an earpiece to talk on. The Motorola Razr is basically the same phone that I had, only in a new thinner package. The controls are exactly the same (with the exception of a switched power and talk button, which I'm sure they changed because everyone else had the power button on the right, and they had it on the left) and the menus and features are all the same as well. The only real addition here is 2 things:

1) Bluetooth - I can get a bluetooth headset and not have to deal with the wire when I'm driving. This is desirable, but I'm waiting to see if I'm really going to even need it.
2) Pictures - The last phone had a camera, but you couldn't see pictures on the front screen (the one that's on the outside of the flap part). On this one, you can see them. Mr. B was my first victim of this, and it works.

Overall, I'm satisfied so far - I have 13 more days to figure out if I want to keep this phone. Since it's basically the same functionality, I'm not as excited about it as I normally would be, but I am grateful to have a fully functioning phone again. I went through the phone book yesterday before going out for Sushi, deleted some old entries that made no sense, added voice dial to some people... Overall, it's good times and fully integrated to my lifestyle already.

As for the other crap. The dog went home this weekend. I got a noise complaint because he barks when he hears people in the hallway. He also scratched up my front door, which I can only fix because the doors to the hall are building controlled. This is not his fault, nor is it my mother's fault, nor is it mine or anybody else's fault. He's just not used to the city. My sister has been walking him and so far everything is fine. I'm going to be going out there either tonight or tomorrow night to make sure that the house is clean and he is still alive, hehe. I'm not too worried about it, though - Things will be fine.

My weekend: Friday I went to school to pick up the posters for minibar - then went to minibar after a haircut to put everything up in the window. It was kinda fun to put everything up and see such a large portion of my work up - This is by far the largest scale work I've done yet. The design is great, the execution could be better. Considering the cost, it's phenomenal, and they seemed to be rather happy. I then met up with B, went to minibar for a drink, then back to his house.

Saturday I took Lou home, cleaned out my car, did my laundry and drove back to the city. On the way back, I stopped at Megan's Mom's house to pick up my chair and ottoman, as well as a suitcase for her. When I got to the city, I met up with Megan to give her said suitcase, then went to eat with her, Jenny and B at Cleo's. After this, B and I hang for a bit, then pick up Nat and go to Sidetrack, where we hang out until about 2:30-2:40am, drive Nat to Andersonville, then go back to B's house to sleep.

Sunday, after going to bed at 4am, we get up at 8:30am to get ready for a pre-gay-pride party in Boystown/Wrigleyville. The party was okay, I was a little disappointed in the drink selection, but it was a good time, a nice house and the people were cool. They were all Brain's friends, so I was a little out of the loop. We then went to the parade for an hour. When we tried walking towards Roscoe, and it took us like 15 minutes to go 1 block, we were done and left. We went to his ex's house and hung out there all day, then home to sleep.

So there you have it people - my weekend. Insane, huh? I'm still tired from it all... blah. Anywho, I'll talk to you all later...

xoxoxo

posted by grey as mike @ 9:18 AM 3 comments

Thursday, June 22, 2006

decompress

I'm having trouble relaxing lately. There's too many things going on that are outside of my control at the moment. Let's go down what's going on (if you don't care, then go to the bottom where I've blogged about other crap):

1) Condo: What a pain... I'm getting the first time buyer jitters, and that's just no good. Taylor is finally moved out, and now I just have to move stuff around, get my old furniture out of storage and try to make the place look good while I contemplate my next move with painting or whatever. Who knows what will happen, I'm just so done with it mentally, though.

2) Dog: Lou is a suburbs dog. He's used to having a collar that keeps him in the yard, which allows him to be let out anytime to run around and have fun. Because there isn't one of those here in the city, his walks are limited to my street, and because he does not get along well with other dogs, I can't take him to any dog parks. I feel guilty leaving him home alone, and when I'm out all night, even if I walk him beforehand and come home early in the morning to walk and feed him, I still feel guilty. He also fought with Brian's dog, Racecar, so now I get really edgy about them being together. I think I was supposed to have him until July 8 or 9, but I think that I'm going to give him back to them next Thursday when they get back from Philly and before they leave for Arkansas (they'll be back for one day, and might just take him with them down there).

3) School: This isn't stressing me out too much now that I'm out for summer, but I think that taking a summer class (which ended last week) postponed my typical school-break-depression, which lasts a week or 2. I get these because I don't know what to do with myself once school is done, cause it's GO GO GO school work, and then it just STOPS. I don't know if that's a part of all this, but I certainly can't discount it.

4) Work: My job is not what I'm doing for my career. What I'm doing for my career has me freelancing for Minibar. I don't feel like there's enough stability in either of those 2, and it's leaving me with this out-of-control feeling that I've not had for a while. I talked with my friend Amanda about getting me a new design gig, but the fact that I'm in school has me in a tough spot. I can't go forward in this position, I can't get a different position doing what I'm doing now since design is my career path, and I can't get a design gig because I'm still in school, even though I know I could blow the pants off half the designers out there right now. It'll all work out, and I'm not crazy worried about it, but it's something that's been in the back of my head for quite some time now. For now, I need to get all my work into a portfolio, get my design site updated and update the grey as sun website. Speaking of that...

5) Music: Oh the turmoil in my head about this stuff... I have good base songs, but need people to give me feedback and ideas - CONSTRUCTIVE feedback. Telling me that it's good or it's bad doesn't really tell me much, I need someone familiar with the ins and outs of making music to really delve into what's what. Eventually, I will bug Brian about this, as he's agreed to critique my lyrics and help with the musical aspect. For now, I think I should get the other stuff under control first...

6) Personal: Brian is awesome, and it's been just over a month since we started hanging out. There really isn't much else to report on that, other than things seem to be going well and I'm just going with it as it goes. I think that having everything else being kind of out of my control is leaving me a bit fragile and insecure, and perhaps that's why I mentioned this, but I know that it's all in my head and I'm not crazy worried about it (B, if you're reading this, ignore it, lol). Hopefully I'm not dumb and bring up "us" in some weird way... That would not be in my character, and probably not lead to good or constructive things.

7) Health: I haven't been going to the gym... It's been about a month and a half, which I think I will change tonight - Thursdays ARE the start of my rotation (Monday's, too, but we'll cross that bridge then). The gym helps me TREMENDOUSLY - If I could shout out to the world like Susan Powter did in the 90's, I would, and might, but that's a different story. I'm always a little more clear and confident after the gym. The last time I stopped this long from working out, I lost 10lbs, and low-and-behold, I've lost almost 10lbs. Time to gain them back!

8) Friends: It's come to my attention who my real friends are, and who they aren't. With being so busy with school, and my friends feeling like I ignore them, there are some I haven't spoken to in years. Some understand this, others do not. Some I've tried staying connected with, others purposely have avoided. It's always a concern of mine with my friends, cause they mean the world to me... I dunno, I need to start being a better friend I guess...

Anyway... EVEN WITH ALL THAT WORRY AND SHIT... Things are going okay. I know that it won't be hard to get things back under control, and I think I'm generally just kinda trying to get back into my groove. I'm noticing that my sense of humor is a little drier than normal (and not a good kind of dry) and that my lack of the gym is affecting my mood. It should be fine once I get back into the swing of things.

Brian said he knows a place where we can go go-carting! FUN!!! My high-school buddy Jeff had a little one that we used to ride around on his street, but then his mom freaked out and made him sell it or put it in storage or something. Needless to say, I want to go FO'SHO'!

I also still want to do my kayaking thing in the lincoln park boathouse - I see those guys every morning while I take the bus and it's making me want to see what it's all about. I guess I've just never done it before, so I want to do it, but then I'll probably find it boring and want to go skateboarding or something (which is another thing I want to get back into possibly). Some of my best memories are from skateboarding with the guys, but I was just such an angry teenager - I think that's why I stopped skateboarding... who knows - or cares... I just want to be active this summer :-! YEA! LET'S DO IT!!!

Thanks for listening to my rants people... Sometimes, I just have to put it all out there when it's too much in order to get a better perspective of how things are going, etc., etc. Let operation "take-back-control" commense.

commense - I need to start using that word more again.

Megan - We need to setup a date to food. Tell Crazy to gather the goods, and we'll plan for it once I pick up the chair and oddomon (oddoman? oddaman... hmmm, I'll look it up later)

Let's get BIZZZAYYYY!!!

posted by grey as mike @ 9:13 AM 1 comments

Monday, June 19, 2006

dumbass

Apparently D is for Dumbass - which is what those that commented last are...

Speaking of dumbasses, I have my mom's dog for the next 3 weeks. Since this 107lb animal doesn't get along with other dogs (as we found out the hard way with Brain's dog, Racecar, last night), I'll be forced to spend less time with Brain, and that makes me quite upset.

We hang out a lot, so perhaps it is for the best to get a small break - but I don't really want a break :-/. I don't think we really need one, cause we get along and don't ever fight, so... *sigh*

Anywho - We (my sisters and I) got my dad a garage door opener for Fathers Day. They have one on the double garage, but not the single, and that's the one that he parks in. There really wasn't any kind of insanity happening, though. It was mostly about me taking that ravenous beast and condo talk...

Which brings me here: I'm buying the condo that I live in. This makes it quite easy for me to not have to move, and not have to deal with the pain that can cause. It also means I'll be looking for a roommate and stuff, so... More on that later...

Last night, after the bloodfest with Lou and Racecar, B and I went to see the Liars. This was a very interesting show - and I like that they have a sound their own and such an insane following for it. The singer and drummer were wearing dresses underneath a mechanics suit (singer) and a neon pink raincoat (drummer). They use a lot of electronic effects, and basically made the "electro-clash" movement (at least that's what I heard from B last night amongst all the noise going on). The singer is from New Zealand, and the rest from Brooklyn. He screams like a girl from a horror film (thank you once again B for a good description). Overall, good times. I have my criticisms, but don't I always?

Hope all is well for you, except those that gave me D's!

posted by grey as mike @ 9:52 AM 2 comments

Friday, June 16, 2006

lalala

I'm at a loss today, people...

There's nothing to do or really talk about. So I'll go through the random list of what's going on in the life of Mikey:

1) Condo - I'm buying the condo in which I currently reside. It's not my favorite place, which means I won't be too attached to it, and it's a nice building with a pool and workout room. The price seems right, so I'm not gonna complain about that, and I can get a roommate to cut some costs... yet another bonus. I'll keep you updated on that. I could ALSO FINALLY PAINT IT!!! Ugh, those cream/off-white/apartment-white walls are KILLING me.

2) Music - Brain heard my demos when I gave him my ipod to go to NY. I was TOTALLY embarrassed by this... I mean, they work, but are unfinished and I don't think I like them that much anymore. BUT, I do need someone to hear them and give me input, so this is a good step.

3) School - I just finished my summer course. I made a short history of typography book, but we only had to do the spreads, not print the actual book. I did print a really choppy copy of it to see how it lays out, but I only turned in a CD. It looks okay, some of the layouts are really nice, some are a little rushed, but overall it's okay and I'm pleased with the turnout (of course, I keep going from liking it to hating it, so who the hell knows).

4) Family - I'm getting my parents dog for like 3 weeks starting next week. This is a problem, cause I messed up my dates, and Taylor doesn't move until Thursday, and he's allergic to dogs (I also don't think he likes them much). Lou is a BIG dog, so I'm not sure keeping him in the house is a great idea, but I talked it over with T and we're working on it. Perhaps B can help me out and stuff.

5) Love - There is someone, but it's new - more to be posted when it's not quite as new ;-) (although, put 2 and 2 together people, you'll figure it out).

6) Extra-curricular - I recently went to a Leslie and the Lys show at Funky Buddha. Not only is this bitch fucking hilarious, but I got to make out with her mom like... 3 times. Aint that some shit?!?!

posted by grey as mike @ 10:10 AM 1 comments

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

itunicality

That's right!!! I made up a word.

I just ordered 3 songs from the Connect Music Store - 2 are from comps, by Kevin Devine and Small Brown Bike, and the other is the last song from the Mock Orange CD "The Record Play." Mr. Brain gave me the album, but it was missing that song, so I had to get it.

I got them from the Connect Music Store because I bought some toothpaste that came with 3 free music downloads. And now... I rant...

That music store SUCKS!!! They have like... NOTHING! I spent my time looking for stuff on comps, and they didn't even have some bands material. They had nothing of recent interest related to Death Cab For Cutie, they had only the EP by American Football, they had NONE of Call Me Lightning's material (and yes, that is right, I do like one of thier songs, and I will NOT feel badly about it). Anyway, I found my songs, and now I can move on...

The whole thing prompted me to go through my itunes library and arrange things the way I see fit. Typically, I don't buy entire soundtracks. They annoy me, and usually I only end up liking only the songs that I got the soundtrack for in the first place. In iTunes, my library is organized by artist, then album, which means that on a soundtrack, the artists are scattered throughout, and I hate that. So I did some creative organization and got my soundtracks in one spot (although, some songs which I listen to AND have extensive libraries of those bands other material remained, so that in my iPod, these soundtrack songs would still appear in their roster).

All in all, it was good times, and I'm happy to have that done with. Next up, the daunting task of going through 1,362 emails in my inbox. Something tells me this will have to wait...

Megs and Jenny - no problem on the new Stereo *wink* CD, and I hope you enjoy it - I know I like it, and it's good for a poppy CD that you crave now and then. As for the Rogue Wave CD, it turns out that I did have those 2 songs on my harddrive already, so I sent them to you both in an email... but YOU, ms. Megan, changed your email, and it wouldn't accept it. So email me your new one, or I'll punch you. I could also send them to your greyassun.com email, but I'm sure you haven't used or checked that in years. I know I never deleted it. I could also post it and just have you both download it, but... meh...

By the end of this year, everything I have and will have will be organized and reduced to only what is utilized... If I haven't used it in the last 2 years, it's going in the trash.

And with that, I think I'm going to head out for today. Call me, as I think I'm free this weekend!

- Mr. M to tha G!

posted by grey as mike @ 12:20 PM 0 comments

Friday, June 02, 2006

braid

I'm listening to braid at the moment. It's pretty good stuff. My quest to find new music has found a leader - in Brian.

He has (2) 400-CD changers and (1) 200-CD changer. Although, the 200 is going away, and those CD's will fill up part of the second 400-CD changer. Either way, the man's got some 700 CD's of music that has, thus far, sounded quite delicious to my ears. More to come on that later...

I listened to a bunch of new music this morning. I found these bands (I guess I already knew of one of them) and thought I would share my thoughts:

1) We Are Scientists (www.myspace.com/wearescientists): They're poppy and trendy, similar to Franz Ferdinand and the Killers, I suppose, but they're not quite as intricate. Much more basic, and even more poppy - they're worth a listen, but I think I need to hear more to give a full analysis.

2) Rogue Wave (www.myspace.com/roguewave): I saw these guys with Nada Surf a few months ago - they were good, but they JUST good. I was annoyed because they kept changing instruments around between the members, and it was so pointless - there wasn't any kind of ability issues with the songs, so I just didn't get it. In listening to the myspace page, the rock songs were much more interesting than the slower ones, which just sounded like Garden State Soundtrack rejects.

3) Tapes and Tapes (www.myspace.com/tapesntapes): Violent Femmes meets Franz Ferdinand. That's about all I can think of when I listen to it, but it's still good enough to listen to and check out. The sound works for them, and I could see myself listening to this when I'm cleaning or getting ready in the morning, but not on the bus or anytime when I'm focused on the music.

4) Rollo Tomasi (www.myspace.com/rollotomasi): Ex-Gauge member and his cohorts. Decent stuff - the new stuff seems a bit more polished and better suited than the older stuff. A little on the heavier side of things, but the overall sound makes it seem like Gauge went heavier and continued with a different name, kinda like how Braid went poppier under the name 'Hey Mercedes' ;-).

5) I have to add this one... Gauge (www.myspace.com/gaugechicago): This is one of the first local shows I went to (besides that Violent Insanity show I went to... I'm not counting the death metal shows I had gone to before on this here blog) and this band was pretty good. I still listen to them to this day, and I saw them in 1992 - so to last through 14 years of my fickle music taste... well, that's pretty good, so check them out.

So tonight I'm going to First Fridays at the MCA, which should be cool. I don't think there will be much new stuff there, but hey... it'll be an outing and good times.

This weekend, I'm going to try to go through my old files and the storage locker to start getting things organized for the upcoming move. EEK! I'm so not looking forward to that...

I guess I'll get things wrapped up here - if you read the blog, and want to hang out this weekend - call me. I'll assume you know the number, and if you don't, then we probably shouldn't hang out - how do I know you just aren't after my hot 14 year old body? HUH?!?! ;-)

Later!

posted by grey as mike @ 12:52 PM 1 comments

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