Highlight of my job:

Getting lunch at the deli.



I love Europe.





In other less vague news,
I've been working every day for the past 2 weeks, I got paid 25$ bucks cash for doing a 5 minute survey about the new Smoking ban of 08' (in which I lied about my address, phone number, and age), I picked up the habit of reading again, I'm pretty much done with drugs (particularly downers. Never again.), A friend from Colorado is sending me two different kinds of Mary Jane they grew themselves, I'm taking LSD with my friend Ralph next week, I feel asleep on the bus yesterday and ended up in the ghetto, I'm going to Montana in March, I'm doing laundry tonight, Ain't nobody gonna love me like the Devil do, I got 50 new vinyl from Dave (Simon & Garfunkel, Joan Baez), I'm going to work.

A thousand different noises all flowing together.
A trillion different eye lids all blinking in unison.

One steady handshake that you'll never remember

Try imagining a person that you've never seen before.
Try imagining something that is completely unique.

Imagine your eyes are the windows and your mouth the door.

My brother has been visiting from California for the past week and is leaving tomorrow, but very possibly moving out here IN OUR APARTMENT within two months.
I'm not totally sure what to make of it but I think it will be fine.

My Christmas job is going alright.
I usually just sit in a corner and read when it's not busy, because I don't really like any of my coworkers.
It's mindless.
There are good things about working there though.
I get lots of "free" stuff, mostly things that I'll never use (Christmas lights, expensive candles, soups, etc).
Over Thanksgiving an acquaintance said to me
"Rob them blind, my friend, rob them blind."
Not exactly literal, if you know what I mean.

I've been listening to Sufjan Stevens lately, along with things like Vetiver, Animal Collective Elizabeth Cotton, Pulp, and Iggy.
Recommendations:
Beirut
Lightning bolt
April March

I went to my sisters (Jen) house last night for dinner with most of my siblings.
She's living with her boyfriend, Mark (Mixin' Mark), who's one of the top 3 DJs in Chicago.
I've met him a couple times before, but never actually had whole conversations with him.
He's a pretty nice guy, I guess. He showed me his in-house studio and his record label (YEAH) and how he makes/plays all his music. And then we all smoked and played intense trivia games. Being a DJ is actually a lot more interesting then I thought, and actually takes some talent. I'm not into techno or anything, but I really respect the guy.
He's good at what he does, he loves it, he smokes weed when he works, and he's making a ton of money.

Remember when I really wanted a nylon stringed guitar?
Well, I GOT ONE. FOR FREE.
Thank you, Andrew.



Dinner and a movie tonight.
The new movie about Bob Dylan!

I want to videotape my brain.
Love is to transient for me, I think I'll stick to alcohol.


But, metaphorically, it's exactly the same.





Happy Thanks giving!

I've been meeting so many interesting characters lately.
I'll explain some of them in brief:


Mark-
The early 40's washed up underground musician. He has awkwardly thick and distinctive glasses that give you an Andy Warhol feeling, and wobbles around like Dustin Hoffmen in Midnight Cowboy. A constant but probably unintentional frown that's like a nail that got hammered into to many knots and finally bent. He has a heavy Chicago accent and greets people with friendly pats on the back.

Arron-
The quasi lesbian coworker that dates a 49 year old oncologist that calls himself "The Duke", is in love with a French dominatrix, was in a Broadway play 9 years ago, is a self-proclaimed stand up comedian, knows Kung-fu, and may and may not be a compulsive liar but is so good at telling stories no one even cares.

Rotten Milk-
The widely enjoyed Acidhouse DJ that could easily be mistaken for ANY member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, sometimes wears colorful 80's esque pants that make rainbows look like black and white photos.
Very long drug history. Oddly intimidating "Crazy Eye".

Dave-
Brother of Bret hailing from Cleveland. Probably smokes a lot of pot but doesn't tell anyone for fear of not being socially excepted, very good at Settlers of Catan...



that's all I can think of right now.
I'm going to sleep. I've been up for 20 hours. I worked 10 of them and bike 2 of them (one with a flat tire...) ate for an hour, then partied/drove around for 6 hours, and now I'm here.
Going to sleep.

I dislike people who confine themselves and close their minds.

A simple example is gutter-punks vs. highstrung indie kids.

It's fun to fuck stuff up, drink screwdrivers, wear trashed clothes and eat shit for a week while chaining together as many swears as you can in one sentence.
And it's also fun be clean, drink vodka and tonics, wear nicer clothes, and make elaborate meals while having intellectual conversations about the effect of mainstream media on third world countries.

On the other hand, I was never very good at being constant.
I guess what I'm saying is that people should loosen up more.


Two contradictory quotes for the night:

"Why do I fall in love with every woman I see that shows me the least bit of attention?"
-Jim Carry in Eternal sunshine of a spotless mind.

"Give me attention and I won't like you at all. But pretend I don't exist, and I'll fuck your brains out."
-Anonymous friend.

I got a job at a seasonal-Christmas type store called Nonpareil.
I can't really help but laugh because it's one of the most absurd jobs I could ever have, I think.
But I don't care how stupid I look working their, I have a job.
And just in the nick of time, because I'm broke.
And I'm not talking "Oh, I have to start budgeting my money" I mean "Cup'noodles are to expensive, I'll have to buy ramen".

But I'm happy, mostly.

I'm going to quit smoking cigarettes, and cut drinking back to only the weekends/special occasions.
After the past week of binge drinking and chain smoking, my liver and lungs have had enough.




Off to do laundry and make breakfast.

On nights like these, I love this city.

The night started at 8:00 with me going to Heaven (another art/music opening) and managing the counter, stamping hands, drinking free wine, listening to music, and meeting interesting people.
At around 10:30 or so I crammed into the back of an Outback with 9 other people and went to a birthday/art opening party that was based off outer space.
Everything was lit with blacklights and Christmas lights, there were glow-in-the-dark paintings and sculptures everywhere you looked and people running around in alien/astronaut/weird suits everywhere. There were multiple rooms, each a different setting. For instance, there was a rave-esque room, where the walls were mirrors and flashing lights everywhere.
There was a room with an actual spaceship that fit 5 people with a windshield that was a video projection of (you) flying through space, so it was sort of like virtual reality, and, better yet, they had beerbongs on the ceiling of the spaceship so when you hit a certain point in your "virtual space-ride" you had to demolish an entire beer to progress further into space. Kind of cheesy, but that was the appeal.
There was tons of other rooms, but I can't go into detail...I lack the ability to describe things, sometimes...

It was a good night.


Yesterday wasn't so good, though.
I got in two accidents on my bike. Both could have been fatal, but thankfully weren't.
The first accident was a giant van dinking and twisting my front wheel (once again, the lack of ability to properly describe comes in) and the second I got wedged in between two cars and shattered one of their mirrors with my right forearm, leaving a nasty bruise. I had to literally climb on top of one of the cars and lift my bike out because I was so stuck.
The bastards.

Neither were my fault, by the way.




That's all for now.

Love,
-Matthew

I don't know if I write in livejournal for lack of a better thing to do at the moment,
or because it's a way of venting to myself.

I don't really care.



I finished the mix tapes and immediately destroyed them.
A waste of going through about 600 albums and 5 hours.
DOWN THE DRAIN.

Mix tapes are bad news. I don't plan on ever making anyone another of the damned things.


And I really want some coke.
But I'm not going to get/have any, don't worry.

haha

Here are some lyrics that you probably won't read.
But I strongly recommend hearing the song if you haven't already.


The cure - The end of the world


Go if you want to
I never tried to stop you
Know there's a reason
For all of this you're feeling
Love it's not my call
You couldn't ever love me more
You couldn't love me more
You couldn't love

Me

I don't show much
It's far too hard to hide you
See in a moment
I cant remember how to
Be all you wanted
I couldn't ever love you more
I couldn't love you more
I couldn't love

You want me to cry and play my part
I want you to sigh and fall apart
We want this like everyone else

Stay if you want to
I always wait to hear you
Say there's a last kiss
For all the times you run this
Way, it's not my call
You couldn't ever love me more
You couldn't love me more
You couldn't love

Love me more
Couldn't ever love me more
I couldn't love you more
I couldn't love

You want me to lie, not break your heart
I want you to sigh, not stop and start
We want this like everyone else

Maybe we didn't understand
It's just the end of the
end of the world
Maybe we didn't understand
Not just a boy and a girl
It's just the end of the world

Me I don't say much
It's far too hard to make you
See in a moment
I can't remember how to
Be all you wanted
I couldn't ever love you more
I couldn't love you more
I couldn't love you more
I couldn't love you more

I couldn't love you more.

It's been a really interesting week past week.
And I have no intention of writing any of it in my livejournal.


BUT I am making two mix tapes and want YOUR opinion:


Side one:

1.Pull my hair - Bright eyes
2.Melt with you - Modern English
3.Shady lane - Pavement
4.If you fall - Azure Ray
5.Just like heaven - The Cure
6.So here we are - Bloc Party
7.Muchaboom -(Postal service remix /w Feist)
8.Young folks - Peter, Bjorn, and John
9.Hotel Yorba - The white stripes
10.Better love - Steel train
11.Messenger bird's song - Bright eyes
12.A dreamy day of day dreaming of you - Of Montreal
13.Long distances - Timothy Rabbit
14.Heart short home - Heart short hope
15.These days - (cover) Mates of state
16.The greatest - Cat power
17.Across the ocean - Azure Ray
18,Just one thing - My morning jacket
19.The Funeral - Band of horses

Side two:

1.Requiem for O.M.M.2 - Of Montreal
2.Key of C - Jim Noir
3.This beard is for Siobhan - Devendra Banhart
4.Fail hard to regain - Two gallants
5.Spoonful of sugar - Of Montreal
6.Who loves the sun? - Velvet underground
7.In the lost and found (honky bach)/The roost - Elliott Smith
8.Day in the graveyard - Wolf parade (?)
9.Ultimate stars - Saturday looks good to me
10.The way you said good-night - Magnetic fields
11.La Redécouverte - Yann Tiersen
12.----

That's as far as I got.
Suggestions for the next 7 songs would be helpful and appreciated.

I think I'm just to paranoid to finish it and mail it.