A few weeks ago I switched out the stem on my bike. It was far too short, at 65mm. So I went to the bicycle works downtown and found a 3t Synthesis 110mm. Now I have the opposite problem. Too long. I'm thinking about tring a 90-100mm now, but I'm leaning towards 90. Maybe even an 85. I want it to look nice though. I found a Shimano 600 I like, but I want a Cinelli XA or a 1-R more. That's all for now. As soon as I get some batteries for my camera I'll take some pictures of my 1987 Raleigh Technium 420. I'm selling my Super Course, probably ask $300 for it.

Started off for school at 7:50, got there around 8:45-ish. I've got it down to less than an hour. I'm pretty proud of myself. According to Google Maps, it's about 12.6 miles. It was really windy and cold this morning too. After school I ended up going to the Soulard Farmer's Market and buying some ingredients to make guacamole. Bought 4 Avocados, 1 Onion, a bunch of Cilantro, 1 tomato, and a lime for about 4 or 5 dollars. That's a deal compared to the grocery stores around my apartment. It actually got colder after I left school and after going to the farmer's market I gave up and took the train and bus home. $4.25

location: the folk's house mood: good music: jean-luc ponty

January was my month for public transportation. I bought a monthly pass for $68.00 and was able to ride the buses and train wherever in Saint Louis County I wanted. It was worth the price in my opinion, but I'm skipping out on it this month, saving up to Greyhound it to Nashville, Tennessee in March. I've learned a lot about the city just by being on the buses. The people, the roads, the businesses you don't normally pass by, Saint Louis is an amazing city. And when metro is being used more than ever, they are cutting a lot of the bus lines and the express buses, along with decreasing the frequency of the trains.

Well, still got the bike. I'm still in love with my "new to me" Raleigh Technium 420.

Piano class is amazing. My teacher is great and learning to read music has been pretty easy for me. I'm still trying to get rid of stuff, finally my apartment is starting to look empty. The microwave is the next thing to go.

location: the folk's house mood: optimistic music: Talking Heads

res⋅o⋅lu⋅tion /ˌrɛzəˈluʃən/ - the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.


My resolution is simply to make my life simpler, harder, more of a challenge, and get more involved.
In a nutshell.

I could explain every little single detail about this plan, but just think of it as 'Henry David Thoreau meets Ralph Nader', sort of.

Today I bought a metro pass for January, and if next month goes well, then my truck will go up for sale.

I've been going through my stuff and figuring out what I really need and what's going to be donated away.

I was going to do this today, but the weather is amazing, so today I took my bike out, rode up to Borders, where I have a gift card from my sister, and bought War and Peace by Lev (Leo) Tolstoy and "Russian at a Glance", a book for travelers on the Russian language.

Then I went to Schnuck's and got that metro pass, and am going to use that to get around next month.

I'm building my father a computer pretty soon, I talked him into letting me do that, finally.

I walked up to the Bread Co. in Northwest Plaza, just because the weather is nice, 2.7 miles according to google, which took about the 53 minutes that site said it would.

Now I'm off to find a Cyrillic font for my computer.

Oh, wow, yesterday was Christmas. I got the limited 5 vinyl version of David Gilmour's "Live in Gdańsk", which is pretty amazing.

location: Bread Co. mood: contemplative music: David Gilmour

I just did something I should not have.

Last night was pretty freaking awesome.

Scored tons of bagels and bread from behind an Entenmanns Bakery.

I'm good for another week.

Fruits and veggies are getting hard to find.

Last week I found some bananas and oranges behind Aldi, but they didn't feel good. mushy.

I'm having this problem. I can't seem to find this balance between my urge to become my ideal self,do things to further accomplishments, and actually half-way fitting in with my existing friends,but their views are so different. I'm always forced to feel like such an outcast.

But I'm sure Henry David Thoreau felt pretty isolated also.

It seems I can't find anyone familiar outside of books and the past.

location: Panera mood: lost music: Darc Mind

So quite a bit of time has passed and new things have been up. Now, for anything interesting, probably not. I have started recycling quite a bit of scrap metal, cleaning up the lot at work, playing music, reading, and the same old crap.

I'm starting school in January and am taking a piano class and a russian language class. Should be interesting and hopefully challenging... well, at least the russian class. Beginning an instrument is always a little uninteresting at first, but if you can get past that, and absorb what they are teaching you, it definitely becomes rather rewarding. Practice doesn't hurt either.

I know christmas is coming up and while I have done most of my shopping already I find myself going back to MY wish list to expand my experience and knowledge. Selfish, I know, but I have goals... and that in itself makes the people around me happy. So if I didn't I would be taking away from others... weird how that works.

Anyway, newest stuff, well... more like stuff that has been on queue for a long time, but I need to remind myself.

1. Tin Hat Trio - Memory is an Elephant
2. David Slusser - Delight at the End of the Tunnel
3. John D. Drake - Downshifting: How to Spend Less and Enjoy Life More
4. John I. Saeed - Semantics (Introducing Linguistics)
5. Bryant Terry - Vegan Soul Kitchen

That's about it for now... simplify, simplify, simplify!

location: the grind off Lindell mood: sublime music: overheard conversation and overhead music

So I get paid this Friday.

My check should be around 760 dollars.

My student loan payment is 566.22
My charter bill is 14.99
My t-mobile bill is 53.76
My ameren bill is 38.81
My laclede bill is 41.41

That leaves me with 44.81 for the next two weeks.
For food and gas.

I hope some impossible miracle would happen like Ralph Nader becoming president.
to end corporate crime.
and student loan gouging.

location: home mood: frustrated

What Your Taste in Music Says About You

Your musical tastes are reflective and complex. You are intellectual to the point of being cerebral. You are very open to new experiences, and even more open to new ideas and theories. Wisdom and personal accomplishment are important to you. You are naturally sophisticated. You are drawn to art, especially art by independent artists. You are likely to be financially well off... and not because you were born that way.

I got a raise.
When my student loans kick in I'll still be struggling.
a little.
but now at least i can eat.

Show 2 of 3 this month is tomorrow.
Can't wait.
Finally starting to write some poetry.
and starting to draw again.

And I'm finally coming out of my shell.
fuck embarrassment.
fuck judgment.
I don't give two shits what anyone thinks of me.

music is finally starting to come together.
got songs.
just need to figure out how to do them live.
now that's a problem i don't mind having.

ah, sometimes it takes a horrible experience, to...
fuck it.
i'm not thinking about it.

mood: amazing music: arto lindsay

it has come to my understanding that we as humans may as well all be perfect. Flaws are only perceptions. What one may call a flaw may not be a flaw to another. Perfection is just a fantasy. There really is no such existence of it. We can't deal with the fact that we really are alone and free, to an extent, we can't handle the freedoms we are given, so we restrict ourselves in ways that inhibit us from really being ourselves. Which is another arguable statement. We are not really "ourselves" per se, but a mold of our environment (society, influences, et cetera), which could in fact mean that the human race is in fact of not only physical evolution, but mental evolution as well. But as things become easier and we have technology do the work for us, we seem to be hindering our own intelligence, i.e. advanced calculators, user friendly computers, circuit simulators, as well as many other things of course... to the point where in the future people really aren't going to know how they work at their core.

but i just lost focus and am not thinking about this anymore... ha.

mood: silly music: Bill Brovold

Everyone's a building burning
with no one to put the fire out.
Standing at the window looking out,
waiting for time to burn us down.

mood: artistic

I haven't slept or ate anything in so long...

I can't sleep.
My eyes hurt.
I've been on my computer since I got home from work.
Blah.

mood: distressed

clean slate.
this is the dawning of real progress.