2016 Favorites

Favorite Music related things in no particular order:
Angel Olsen: My Women
Seeing Wolf Parade twice
Seeing LCD Soundsystem
Anohni live at FYF Fest
Fakers: Sounding the Alarmist EP
Jeff Rosenstock: Worry
Kevin Morby: Singing Saw
Hamilton Liethause + Rostam: I Had A Dream You Were Mine
John K Samson: Winter Wheat
Joyce Manor: Cody
Car Seat Headrest: Teens of Denial
A Tribe Called Quest: Thank You For Your Service, We Got it from here

Movies/Television:
Midnight Special
Everybody Wants Some
Arrival
Stranger Things
Halt and Catch Fire
Westworld
The Americans

Days/Events:
8 days in Nashville for Summit
Climbing Big Bad Wolf in Red Rocks
Cape Hatteras/North Carolina
Maia
Weekend trip to Yosemite/Staying in Curry Village
Four days in Zion
Being one out away from Matt Moore throwing a No Hitter vs Dodgers on August 25

Spotify:

Last.FM:

2015 List

Favorite albums in no particular order:
Shinobu - 10 Thermidor
Mac McCaughan - Non Believers
Built to Spill - Untethered Moon
The Albert Square - I (Assume I) Know What I'm Doing
Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion
Torres - Sprinter
Sufjan Stevens - Carrie and Lowell
Quarterbacks - S/T

Favorite Movie of 2015:
The End of the Tour

Days/Events:
Visiting Seattle in January.
Shinobu's 10 Thermidor record release show at VLHS
Solo camping trip to Zion.
Climbing trip to Bishop.
Reaching the top of Half Dome via cables.
Spirtualized at FYF Fest
East Coast Trip (DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Tallahassee, Gainesville)
Renting a car for the first time.
Visiting Austin in October.
Seeing Brand New and The Replacements on back-to-back days.
Family Arizona trip
Seeing Spoon on back-to-back days.
Getting T-boned in Culver City
Going up to Santa Clara to see Taylor Swift

My 2014.

Favorite albums:

Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues
Hard Girls - A Thousand Surfaces
Spoon - They Want My Soul
Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 2
Diners - Always Room
Angel Olsen - Burn your Fire for No Witness
Taylor Swift - 1989
The Smith Street Band - Throw Me in the River
The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
Cloud Nothing - Here and Nowhere Else
Ex Hex - Rips
Tim Barry - Lost and Rootless

Favorite Movie of 2014:
Boyhood

Days/Events:
Against Me show in Santa Ana at the Observatory.
Run The Jewels show in Los Angeles at the Echoplex
Visiting New York City with Jaake for the last Btmi show
Visiting Lauren in Washington DC
Two day hike to the summit of Mt. Whitney
Moving the fuck out of Orange County
Weekend trip to Phoenix just to watch one Spring Training Baseball game
Growing Up Is Dumb V2
Climbing in Joshua Tree
Bike riding around SF/Brewery hipping and ending the day with a Giants game with Jenn.
Visiting Point Reyes National Seashore

Last.fm Stats:

Almost Crimes

Woke up at 8 am from a bad dream, proceeded to throw up which didn't help. Realized that I graduated from SJSU two years ago, it made me feel even worse...I dislike days like toady.

Thunderbird Blues

Here's some 2014, first quarter activities.

During January, I flew out to New York City for three days. The main reason behind the trip was to watch the very last Bomb the Music Industry show. It was a lot of fun. Their set was split into two, totaling almost three hours of wild chaotic music. I saw the first act from the crowd and the second from the side of the stage, thanks to Keegan.

Sometimes it's fun to wake up at 5am and drive to Arizona to watch couple spring training games. You get there by noon only to find out that the game's sold out. So you goof around all day, eat at a Chinese-Mexican fusion food. The next day, you hit jackpot and get tickets to a game. Witness a walk-off homerun, drive six hours west back to California and go to work the next day. 

I love California, specially its geography. I love that I can get to the beach in 15 minutes, the mountains in a hour and the desert in two. I went down to Joshua Tree for the very time this past weekend. I really enjoyed it, scrambling on top of the rocks is fun. Figuring out how you are going to comedown is even more fun. 

Positively unemployed. Orange sauce, burritos, minor league baseball games, house show, cal train at the Bay Area this week.  

Do You Know The Way To San Jose?

Do you know the way to San Jose?
I've been away so long. I may go wrong and lose my way.
Do you know the way to San Jose?
I'm going back to find some peace of mind in San Jose.

L.A. is a great big freeway.
Put a hundred down and buy a car.
In a week, maybe two, they'll make you a star.
Weeks turn into years. How quick they pass.
And all the stars that never were
Are parking cars and pumping gas.

You can really breathe in San Jose
They've got a lot of space. There'll be a place where I can stay,
I was born and raised in San Jose
I'm going back to find some peace of mind in San Jose.

Fame and fortune is a magnet.
It can pull you far away from home
With a dream in your heart you're never alone.
Dreams turn into dust and blow away
And there you are without a friend
You pack your car and ride away

L.A. is a great big freeway.
Put a hundred down and buy a car.
In a week, maybe two, they'll make you a star
Weeks turn into years. How quick they pass
And all the stars that never were
Are parking cars and pumping gas.

I've got lots of friends in San Jose,
Do you know the way to San Jose?
Can't wait to get back to San Jose.

Places that pull

To-do List:
Go to Arizona for a weekend in March for spring training.
Quit my current job.
Move North.


I should probably write more often. 

My 2013

I haven't really updated this and will probably won't too many over the next few months but I did want to make a list of things I enjoyed this year just so I can keep track of things.

Music/Albums that came out in 2013 that I enjoyed the most:
Neko Case: the Worse things get, the Harder I fight, The Harder I fight, The More I Love you
Tegan And Sara: Heartthrob
Waxahatchee: Cerulean Salt
LA Font: Diving Man
The National: Trouble Will Find Me
Diarrhea Planet: I'm Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams
Boboso: Grown Ass Man
Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City
The Wild: Dreams Are Maps.


Movies:
Before Midnight
Short Term 12
Mud
Dallas Buyers Club
Wolf Of Wall Street
The East
Spectacular Now
Fruitvale Station
Man of Steel
Way Way Back
Kings of Summer

2013:
Getting a Driver's license
Buying a Car
Week in Chicago
Watching the fucking Replacements
The Henry Clay People at the echoplex
DeDe's wedding in Monterey
Backpacking at Sequoia National Park
Winning fantasy football
Going to ten baseball games over summer, including first time visit to Petco Park and Comerica Park
Spending the last four days of the year in the Bay Area.

Waltzing Matilda

I love art and culture and live music.
But I love it because it makes life on earth bearable,
not because it is very important.
I have no illusions about my own "worthwhile" contributions
to earthly existence: They are about nil. 

Retreat

There's something to be said, about your travels, by yourself. Just listening to music. The idea seemed so romantic that I partook in such activities last night and few nights before. I listened to the Manhattan Murder Mystery's self titled album; everything about that record is so personal.

Unsung Glory Hound

It's been a while since I've used this and part of the reason is that everything that I wanted to write down was being written on sticky notes. Figured that it's time for me to transfer those random sentences on here so I can look at them in the near future and get rid of all the sticky notes.

Goal for summer is to attend every MLB ballpark in California. I've been to everyone except Petco Park in San Diego but to attend all of them in a span of a season would be quite the personal achievement. I attended the Angels second home game earlier in April so one down, four more to go.

Got tickets to see Godspeed, You Black Emperor! in September also really excited for Growing Up is Dumb Fest in June. Built to Spill tomorrow, nice!

Hey friends, quit getting married. You are making me feel old and I'm only 22.

Life is weird, but also surprisingly nice.

Stop listening to idiots! Go outside and play baseball.

It's freaking May already, year is going by super quick and can't believe it's been almost a year since I graduated from college. I'll probably write more a reflection later in the month. I know the generation I live in has an obsession with documenting everything, but I wish more people just wrote things down on an anniversary type basis so it would be easier to look back. For example, the reason I want to write a reflection on  how I feel after a year of being into the real world is so in the future I can go back and see what my thought process was.

My writing skills have gotten worse since I no longer have to papers and reports due on a weekly basis, which makes me little sad. Need to figure out a way to fix this.

Decisions.

Reach for Something more Stable,

Hope for happier times.

Interlude

Your spending most of your life
Looking for the adult you are well good luck, okay, all right
And your spendin' the rest of your life,
Lookin' for the child you never were well good luck, alright
And your spendin' the rest of your life
Lookin' for the adult you shoulda' been
well okay this is alright.
And your spendin' the rest of your life

Twenty-Two

That's how it starts.

We go back to your house.

We check the charts,

And start to figure it out.

And if it's crowded, all the better,

because we know we're gonna be up late.

But if you're worried about the weather

then you picked the wrong place to stay.

That's how it starts.

And so it starts.

You switch the engine on.

We set controls for the heart of the sun,

one of the ways we show our age.

And if the sun comes up, if the sun comes up, if the sun comes up

and I still don't wanna stagger home.

Then it's the memory of our betters 

that are keeping us on our feet.

You spent the first five years trying to get with the plan,

and the next five years trying to be with your friends again.

You're talking 45 turns just as fast as you can,

yeah, I know it gets tired, but it's better when we pretend.

It comes apart,

the way it does in bad films.

Except in parts,

when the moral kicks in.

Though when we're running out of the drugs

and the conversation's winding away.

I wouldn't trade one stupid decision 

for another five years of lies.

You drop the first ten years just as fast as you can,

and the next ten people who are trying to be polite.

When you're blowing eighty-five days in the middle of France,

Yeah, I know it gets tired only where are your friends tonight?

And to tell the truth.

Oh, this could be the last time.

So here we go,

like a sail's force into the night

And if I made a fool, if I made a fool, if I made a fool 

on the road, there's always this.

And if I'm sewn into submission, 

I can still come home to this.

And with a face like a dad and a laughable stand,

you can sleep on the plane or review what you said.

When you're drunk and the kids leave impossible tasks

you think over and over, "hey, I'm finally dead."

Oh, if the trip and the plan come apart in your hand,

you look contorted on yourself your ridiculous prop.

You forgot what you meant when you read what you said,

and you always knew you were tired, but then,

where are your friends tonight?

Where are your friends tonight?

Where are your friends tonight?

If I could see all my friends tonight

Shock To Your System

Missed Another Boat.

2013 starts off good and bad. 

Watermark

Trying to decide my top 15 Tom Waits song is a lot more difficult that I thought it would be.
My top 15 keeps changing. 

Moments of 2012

Personal favorite moments of 2012:
(not in any particular order).

Graduating College
Seeing Henry Clay People eight times, and giving me an excuse to sing and dance
Visting Portland
Visiting Salton Sea while stopping at Bombay Beach, Niland, Slab City and Salvation Mountain.
Camping at Yosemite
Going to Disneyland for free
Bounce House graduation party
Sim's 30th birthday party
Last house party at the Grant residence
Spending the end of the year in the Bay Area
Seeing Laura Marling live
Showing my folks around in Big Sur, San Francisco, Monetary and Santa Cruz. 

Hella Lists

Records (No particular order)

The Orwells- Remember When
Boboso- Life's A Gas Mixtape
Hard Girls- Isn't It Worse
Mike Hugenor- Bardamu
The Walkmen- Heaven
Cloud Nothings- Attack on Memory
The Henry Clay People- Twenty Five for the Rest of Our Life
Japandroids- Celebration Rock
Joey Bada$$- 1999
Rademacher- Babyhawk III
Tim Barry- 40 Miler
Classics of Love- Self Titled
Matthew Teardrop- Drunk As Fuck
Cat Power- Sun


Movies
The Master
Safety Not Guaranteed
Bachelorette
Prometheus

Retired Explorer.

While I was in Portland this past weekend, my friend who I was staying with was on google maps and asked me where in India were my parents use to live. After a while we were google mapping every place I've ever lived at and she noticed something that never occurred to me...she noticed how I've always lived in coastal states near the ocean. Brief stay in India, couple places in Delaware, up and down California; along touching an ocean, the furthest away from Ocean I've been is a hour long bus ride.

If you look close enough, you can spot the Shark Tank.

Portland State University.

I'm not sure why I never realized this before and I wonder if growing up in coastal regions might be one of the reasons why I love the ocean so much. 

The Reasons

Portland Rules