hah! this is cool!

national geographic has a webcam set up that is pointing at a watering hole in a savannah in Africa

you can actually see animals and stuff...has a very fast connection, so it looks really good.

check it

yoger

that's how we say it where i come from.

so my downward dog is tamed, my child's pose isn't a horror flick, my table is clean and my body is wracked with fucking pain.

yep, i had my first yoga class last night, and i am sore.
it was cool and all, definitely flew by a lot faster than i thought it would, and in the end i was actually relaxed.

the teacher was cool, but just a little too flexible, if you ask me. shudder.

there's a lot of flaky esoteric stuff in there too - from the cheesy soundtrack to the encouraging 'feel the core strengthening' and 'look inside yourself and revel in the engergy of the pose' and finally ending with an OM

but i'll be going back, at least till i don't anymore

red crossssss

so i did a stint at the local red cross office last night, spending the time answering calls that come in to the emergency services lines.

wild.
i had no training whatsoever, basically was shown a bunch of forms that need to be filled out when people call.

why are they calling?
well, they've had some kind of disaster happen to them, usually a fire, or a they are family of military who are trying to locate service-people for various reasons.

or they are looking for training classes, how to volunteer, where to donate, and so on and so forth.

it was kind of surreal b/c you would think that the people on the other end of the phone when you call the red cross are highly trained personnel.

well, it's not.

it's me.

24

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the events in this blogpost take place between 3:46 and 3:47 on the day of the extended 24 dvd-watching marathon


my name is zack and this is the longest day of the week. so far.

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don't park on me!

so the other night, we're looking around the east village for a parking spot, and holy crap, there's one in the most perfect spot ever.
less than a half a block from the apt, right in front of us.
so, we pull up next to it, check the sign, yep, it's good.

we inch forward to give ourselves some space to back in, and start backing in.
there we are, about halfway in the spot, totally on the diagonal - clearly taking the spot.

and up comes this fucking lady. in a bright yellow sports car, and pulls her car halfway into the spot!
(i neglected to mention this was the 'end' spot, so she was able to drive right up into the spot, something we had been unable to do b/c of traffic)

anyway, so she sees us halfway in and then proceeded to pull her car in. this was not a good situation. i was tired.
and riding bitch.

once it became obvious that she wasn't moving (and after much hand-waving), i knew something had to be done.
i got out of the car, and walked over towards her.
standing right in front of her bumper, i said, hey- it's obviously our spot, and we're taking it. so please move on.

the nerve. the nerve of this lady, what she said next.
she says, well, it looks like a tie to me.
(a tie?! a tie?! this isn't your fucking kids soccer game, lady! this isn't a three-legged race at your companies annual picnic, you dumb fuck!)

so i says, are you fucking kidding me? a tie? we were backing into the spot, and you pulled in. now go away.

so she starts inching forward. very close to my knee at this point, and you know me and my knees. don't hit them.
i lift a finger, and hold it up, in the universal 'hold it' fashion.
whoa, i say with a menacing look, don't even think of touching me with that car.

as i'm looking at her, i glance down and almost smile at my opportunity.
taking a step to the right, i make sure to catch her eye, take a really obvious look at her license plate, and catch her eye again.

hey lady, i say, get out of my parking space and go back to fucking connecticut.





that's right.
go back to connecticut.

and she did.

weekend stylings

going up to the city for the weekend.

got some great shows to see - white stripes at coney island, and just found out about an Au Revoir Simone show tonight that we'll go to.

cool.

and hopefully on sunday afternoon go clean out my stuff from the rat-infested shit-covered basement that it's been in since i moved to philly. delightful.

the red cross just called, said they want me to come in on Monday to work the phones, so i'll be doing that.

and isn't it nice to be invited to something (relatively) exclusive??

gosh.

PR

so the decisions have been made. pretty much.

if the offer comes, we're going to puerto rico. we think.

it'll be a good thing to do. right?

i mean, things like this don't always come along.

it'll be fun, exciting, adventurous, and those kinds of words.
we've been working the phones, finding connections etc, and it seems like we'll be just fine.
the problem, you see, has been the uncertainty of me finding a job with no spanish skills.
but it seems like it won't be such a problem.

how wild!

puerto rico thoughts

well.
a whirlwind trip to PR
a ridiculous hotel in the elegant stylings of cuba in the 50's.

and now what to do? almost an offer from the man, but two years is a long time.
but then, honestly, the chance to live somewhere very different for a couple years doesn't come up in such a convenient fashion that often.
it would definitely be a challenge in many ways, from living far away, to finding a job, to being very hot all the time - i'll miss the cold weather, i have to say. it's in my blood.

also- two years? man. but it really isn't that far, truth be told. and all you bastards better visit if we end up there. 3.5 hour flights, cheap tix, a place to stay. bastards.

i think in the end, the adventure is worth it.

your thoughts? would you do it?

first

so this is a blog post that has a bunch of tracks with roots in New Orleans

good stuff

holy crap.

we're going to Puerto Rico on sunday.

why? so j can interview with a judge for a clerkship.

in Puerto Rico.

yes, it would mean us moving there for a while.
about two years, i believe.

holy crap.

arcade fire again..

but then, i don't know that 'again' is the right word. you see, 'again' would imply in some way that i was tired of them maybe; that seeing them another time was in some way burdensome.

nope. i love the music, i love the show, the stage presence, and everything else about them.

they put on such a powerful show, that it's so crazy.
after i saw them last year, coming out of the show, the feeling is of being totally blown away - the album is clearly incredible, but it's only a taste of the live show.
therefore, when i talked to people afterwards who have been loving on the album, but never seen them live, i was definitely happy to hear that they felt the same way - a truly killer show.

yes, the sound at summerstage sucks- def not loud enough. however, i was able to get up pretty close under one of the speakers mounted on the left side, so it was satisfactory.
yes, the crowd generally blew - the last time i saw them at the tla, the place was jumping up and down the entire time. last night, win even commented on how 'scarily peaceful' the crowd was. i don't think it has anything to do with a bigger crowd than a club, b/c when they played at coachella, they at least looked to be loving the crowd and all.
maybe it was various technical issues that had win peeved - a borrowed piano, too bright lights, constant touring playing the same 12 songs or so.

yeah, bowie came out and did Queen Bitch and Wake Up. it was good, but i'd rather see them without bowie in a smaller venue with better sound.

and another pic...

fine and dandy

saw the dandy warhols last night, and they totally rocked.

really good.

the place we saw them was pretty good for shows too, was upstairs basically right over the stage, and the sound was really good.

a pic of mr dandy himself, courtney taylor-etc.

this scares me

this moron brown put in charge by this moron bush.

how may other morons are out there in charge of stuff?

read it

see this? head of FEMA is a liar

and he was appointed cause he was the college roommate of the former head of FEMA.
who is a good buddy of Bush.
according to this Time article, his resume is full of shit.

shocking.

not.

hell yeaaaaah

no one does a 'hell yeah' like jay-z does a 'hell yeah'

and how about kanye west and mike myers? i wish they'd do a remake of Ebony and Ivory

kchackis

whats up with them anyway? its not like i don't have a few pairs at least, you know.

i dont wear them with a blue gold-buttoned blazer, or anything, and thats a good thing i think.

at this party last night, and so many people wearing them - shorts, pants, other pants, different shorts, the whole spectrum.

why that colour? why ?

tired

so tired.
not totally sure why, but it's been a bit of a hectic and stressful day.

oh yeah, found out that i don't think i'll be heading down to new orleans or surrounding areas to help.
even though my job will give a significant amount of time off for people who want to volunteer, it would mean basically being gone for like 2 months, what with all the jew-days coming up.
i really would have liked to go and make a difference some in that whole big cluster-fuck.
for next time (and yes, it's almost guaranteed that something bad like this will happen again) i plan on being qualified to provide some real help.
more on that as it happens.

ok. party tonight, j's new bike to put together sometime, settling into a relatively normal schedule, figure out what to do with myself, that's all

yeah so summers over-ish

but NOT FOR MEEEE!! whhooooo!!

until it gets too cold to go out. then it's over.
sorry.

that's just how it is. winter comes on and it gets all cold again and riding gets a little annoying.
man.
i bet it would be cool to be in paris.
have you ever been to paris? supposed to be nice this time of year.
maybe we'll visit sometime.

nicest weather ever this weekend. just perfect. chilling at the beach-house eating good food and hanging with people.

and the situation in new orleans and surrounding areas is still freaking me out.
i honestly can't believe the total abject failure of our government to respond to this in a manner befitting.

anyway. talk to you soon.