Chillin’ Like Bob Dylan...

January 3rd, 2009; 4:41 PM

Current mood:mellow

The gunshot went off three days ago. I however, am just now pulling away from the starting line. (yawn.) I'm going now. ...really....off to conquer the world...

Thank god I got 5 Starbucks cards for Christmas ( I need the caffeine!). Starbucks gift cards...the impersonal gift that says I-love-you-sort-of. Anyhoo...Funny enough, I am happy to be kept in chai latte's and as many tarragon chicken sandwiches as I want. In a bit, I am meeting up with my dear pally and taking a nice leisurely drive to Cape Fear. I love that place. I associate it with good friends, the hands down best house vinaigrette I have ever had and the rustic/mysterious ambiance of the deep dark woods and coast. Outside, it's: dark, cold, inhospitable, and there's the looming feeling of a storm brewing off the coast. However, inside: it's cheerful, and pleasant. The food is great, but the people are what make this place. We will be one Musketeer short this evening...however we will rectify that shortly with a dinner next week. (yawn.)

Apparently I *did* get a wine barrel for Christmas. YAY! So the Taiko thing is happening after all. This has been the Christmas of plenty. I am thankful for it. I am also happy to have the whole weekend off! It's nice/strange.

...On another side note...(it seems that is almost all that I write these days...an endless succesion of side notes..) anyhoo...NEW vinyl has made a comeback in mainstream places...like Best Buy??? I found it so strange? I LOVE RECORDS! I have a great collection in fact. But most of my records are vintage. I have a few hip-hop and punk records that are newish...but nothing compares to puting on an old James Brown, Etta James, Nina Simone, Beatles, or Stevie Wonder album. I love it. OOohh or Samba de Brasil! They even have new albums that look like the old ones. New-old-looking-James-Brown. New-old-looking-Clapton. New-old-looking-Beatles. In a way I like this. But the printing presses are different now a days...so they don't have the same feeling. The cardboard they're printed on is all smooth and uniform. There's no embossing. With the old albums, each one feels special. Like it has a soul. Like a work of art. The new ones feel good..but much less individual. They don't feel like they are originating from different places. This is all just conjecture of course, but they feel like someone owns the rights to these albums and is repressing them and distributing them but having all of the print work done at the same place with the same printing presses...and then selling them to a bunch of hipsters because records are *cool* and they'll make a lot of money. This is such a turn-off for me. Plus the price! E-gads! Some were like $35! For a frigging record! I would much rather buy mine at garage sales, or Amoeba's, or online. You can call me cheap. But I like to call myself "fiscally conservative."