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Wednesday, August 6th, 2003
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6:51 pm - I know, I make home-grown videos of me onstage sound really important, don't I?
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| Saturday, August 2nd, 2003
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10:31 pm
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Okay so I made a desktop picture of myself doing a standup act at the Irvine. I feel weird about desktops emblazing just moi and moi uglee' face (attempting Mitcz-Style™ french there), so if you think it's good idea, leave a comment here.
(click thumbnail)
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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4:51 pm
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So, today I went under the needle. The Piercing Needle. My purpose? To finally get some vertical nipple bars stuck in those babies, and make a nifty little 4-ball look (when I get 2 more barbells for my horizontal nipple piercings). It was fuckin' hell today...
Apparently I have very tough skin. I remember back when I got my navel done in Seattle, the guy pushed the needle in as hard as he could for some-odd like 20 seconds before it finally went through. He said "you've got the 2nd toughest skin I've ever pierced." No one else had mentioned that before or after though. Well, there was some probs. getting my vertical bridge done, but I assumed that was the location rather than my skin type.
Today though, ohhhh fuck, it came crashing home. I wish I would've brought my DV Cam to show everyone the pain. My good friend Mike came with and can attest that it hurt him just watching.
Trino (from Big House Tattoo in Orange, CA did a wonderful job though, to be clear) However, when he first tried putting the needle in behind the already pierced horizontal ring, it wouldn't go through all the way. I was all pumped, ready to go, I felt the sting and shook my foot to shake off the pain - thinking "this will be over in just a sec". He stopped pushing. I felt the wave of relief and post-piercing tranquility rush over me. Then he said "Fuck!", I looked to the mirror on the right... it wasn't through! Only about halfway. That clamp was killing my nipple, and pinching the pierced horizontal portion pretty heavily. So, he retracted the needle, and I asked him to take off the clamp. He did. He couldn't figure out why the damn needle wouldn't go through. He originally thought it was scar tissue.
He went through a second time, without the clamp, just tried holding onto my horizontal CBR. After he put all his might into it, and about 10 secs. later.. it finally pushed through. It was another bit of grueling pain just to get the new jewelry in there. Fuck, that hurt sooooooo bad.
I sat back, still feeling the post-piercing pain. I felt a bit relieved for a second there. Then I realized - oh shit, there's a whole right nipple still waiting to receive that torture.
He said "God man, that's got to be the toughest skin I've ever pierced". So, I'm guessing it wasn't scar tissue afterall.
The game plan for the second nipple was to use the clamp, and since the jewelry was my horseshoe-shaped surface bar, it would slip in and not clamp the piercing itself. He was just gonna push that needle through as hard as he could.. minimizing the torture I suppose. Well, thankfully, that plan worked. It pushed through fairly quickly - but godDAMN was that some painful shit. I remember my first nipple piercing hurting quite a bit, but when I went back to get my right nipple piercing - it was nothing. I guess my left nipple just hates me. However, this was easily the most painful of all my upper body piercings. It ties in with the P.A.
Anywho.. pics are below. They'll look a LOT better once I get some barbells for the horizontals.
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(6 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, July 11th, 2003
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5:49 pm
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Q: What does one do when the only "people" one can talk to is one's cat, and a text document on one's computer?
A: post that question on LJ
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(7 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, July 8th, 2003
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4:30 pm
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So, for the first time in Mitcz history, I own a car that's (gasp!) younger than I am! Amazingly, the car's only about 12 yrs. old. A 1991 Saturn SC1. Aquamarine. Frighteningly close in almost every way, shape, form, and color to the one my mom bought herself when she graduated college in the early 90's for her master's degree. Like mother, like son, I guess. Only, ya know, without that whole college thing.
( Now.. On to the pictures! )
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(9 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, July 3rd, 2003
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8:25 pm
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Just got back from seein' Social D at the House of Blues right near here, at Downtown Disney. My old buddy Sean came up from Phoenix to join in the festivities. We saw, by and far, the GREATEST concert-going experience EVER!
Just before breaking into "I wasn't born a follower", Mike Ness made a speech about Joe Strummer (recently deceased lead singer of The Clash). He said they "didn't just bitch and whine like those damned pistols. They went out and said something, had solutions - they tackled politics, racism, war... they knew what was up. And, I gotta say, we need more of that now. We need to stand up against this shit that's goin' on. We need a change - we don't need that fuckin' Bush." Everyone cheers, loudly. Mike continues "...ehh, don't blame him - he's just a puppet anyway" and the song begins.
After the song, Ness looks out into the crowd, just to the left of where Sean and I were standing - and he says into the mic "I don't like bullies. It looks like we've got some bullies here tonight" and then after some muddled yells from a select few (maybe just one, I couldn't tell) people in the crowd, Mike says "Fuck ME? No... fuck YOU!". Then he takes his mic off the stand, and says "you got so much to say? why don't you come up here and say it? I'll give you the mic - you say something, since you've just gotta keep yelling". The guy struggles to make his way through the crowd, Ness says "Guys, let this motherfucker through... I wanna hear this".
The guy gets to the barricade just before the stage, Mike walks up to the edge of the stage, kneels down, pissed off look in his eyes "Alright asshole, you've got something to say? Well, here - say something!" and CHUCKS the mic right at the guy's head - you can actually hear the amplified "THUMP!" when it hits him on the head. At this point, I was already shocked - I mean, how many singers, nay, PEOPLE would have the sheer cajones to not only stop a show to talk to an obviously drunk asshole bully, but also GIVE that guy a microphone; a device that could VERY easily be thrown right back at him, and Ness didn't even shift his foot - he just knelt there.
Now, the guy finally speaks.... rather, he yells "FUUUUUUUCK MIKE, FUUUUUUUCK SOCIAL D". You can see the fuckin' passionate rage in Mike's eyes at this point. This asshole is the same bully you see everywhere, all throughout your life. This is the motherfucker that exists just to ruin everyone else's good time. Mike's one hardcore, old-school SoCal punk - tempered in the streets, sauteed in political anger... and staring in the face of the enemy.
The guy continues "Seriously Mike, I think you're a nice guy and all - I like your band, but dude... if you say one more word about Bush our President, I'm gonna have to light you..." before this fuck can even finish - Ness, in one fell swoop, pulls his guitar strap off, jumps straight up into the air and plants his boots right into this guy's head while landing on him. All I saw from my vantage point was the houselights going on, and at first the fists of Mike Ness, then the unified fists, feet, elbows of everyone in the crowd. This was time for a mauling. I saw this fuck before Mike even pointed him out - this guy had been all up in the face of everyone. Hell, if you've ever been to a concert, you've seen this guy's ilk before. Tonight, I saw him fall and I loved every minute of it.
The mauling consumed about 5 minutes, their was an energy, a fury, a rage, a passion in the air so thick you could cut it. It filled everyone up, I couldn't stop grabbing Sean - yelling at him - him yelling at me - nothing in particular, just "DUUUUDE. HOLY FUCK. THIS IS THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD"... but in a yell, in a passionate scream that I only wish everyone could experience at least once in their life.
Ness got back up on stage. "Fuckin' asshole messed up my hair. Guys - give him back his $15 or whatever it was he paid, I don't want him here.. get him the FUCK out." As the guy is "escorted" out, he keeps dropping to the floor, beat and bloodied. People kept hitting him, kicking him. But he couldn't move - his arms were tied behind his backs, and he was alone in a crowd of people who'd had enough of him and his ilk. Social D busted into Sick Boy, and I've never felt more alive in my life. And I felt safe, cause I knew, as we all did - that assholes wouldn't be allowed here. Mike Ness stood up, not only for a strong political viewpoint, against the system that keeps us all down - but he stood up for anyone who'd ever been bullied, anyone who just wanted to have a good time, and was stripped of that right on account of machismo, beer-swilling jock-mentality assholes.
I always thought to myself, if I were putting on a concert, up there singin' away and I saw some bully, I would make sure he was thrown out and humiliated and make it a point that people knew I didn't want his ilk's dirty money. That they can keep it. If their spending money on my CD's, and concerts means the rest of an audience, or world has to put up with them - and if I have to live with being a soundtrack for assholes like that - I didn't want it. Mike Ness drove home that point tonight - not just with what happened above, but with what happened just before the end of the show as well.
Mike pulls $15 out of his back pocket and says "Guards - take this guy outta here, fuckin' bully motherfucker, before i take him out myself". He wads up the $15, tosses it at the guy, and continues "There. I don't want your fuckin' money. You keep it. Did you pay $15 to come here and fuck with me? And fuck with these people? Fuckin' asshole". The guards lift him up over the railing, obviously trying to save him the beating an audience full of pissed off punk-lovers gave the last asshole bully. Ness goes on.. "Take that money and go buy another FatBurger, you fat fuck! Go watch some Girls Gone Wild tapes and play with your little dinky-ass prick, you fuckin' stupid dick".
Everyone cheers, and the show goes on. I could go on and on about how well the songs were played, the energy in the crowd, the wonderful, passionate speeches that Ness made - but it wouldn't be the same, you weren't there (well, not that I know of anyway). I realized tonight - that what I saw, what I experienced - THAT is where punk lives. It's not in a commercial. It's not in a bottle of "Punky" hair dye. It's not in a ripped punk shirt w/safety pins holding it together. It's in the passions, minds, hearts, and sinews of the underground that is constantly held down by an unfair and totally fucked up system in need of a change. I probably sound like a raving lunatic. But, hell - I just can't say it any other way right now. I feel very alive.
Mix all of that with the fact that Sean and I spent the better part (4+ hours) working on "Drown me in Lidocaine" (a new song I just wrote the lyrics to last week) before going off to the show, and having not had an old-fashioned intimate jam session w/Sean for over 6 years, I feel fuckin' great right now. Hopefully we'll be able to lay down some vocals and guitars tomorrow (since he leaves Tuesday) and I can finish the song up soon afterwards. My voice is still shot to shit - I don't think I've screamed like I did tonight in years. Goodnight :)
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(13 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, July 2nd, 2003
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5:34 pm
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| Tuesday, July 1st, 2003
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7:33 pm - Fuck America
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I've been meaning to write this entry for a while now really. But, having just seen "Bowling for Columbine", my recent anti-america views are being brought to a boil at the surface of my brain.
I don't really know where it came from, but I guess I got sick of constantly hearing about the greatness of our country since Sept. 11th. Bush has one of the highest approval ratings of any American President, so I guess it only makes sense that now more than ever, Americans are just so goddamned "proud" of their country. But, why all this pride? A few buildings fall because terrorists from a country that has been invaded, bombed, and treaded upon by U.S. military forces and you're PROUD to be living in the country that initiated the attacks against a nation that should be pretty much left to its own devices? Just doesn't make sense to me. Now more than ever, I'd like to know what makes this country so great. So, here's what I've heard that makes us sooo great:
1. Freedom of Speech
2. Freedom of FireArms
3. Democracy... a gov't for the people, made by the people
4. Low Unemployment Rates
5. Freedom of the Press
I'll go over said "great things" now.
1. Freedom of speech? My left nut. Even on the first, most basic level of things - no one can say fuck, shit, assfuck, motherfucker, cock, cunt, pussy, cum, or goddamn on national TV. Sure, they're vulgarities - but did you know that Australia airs MTV without censorship of any sort? Yes, "The Osbournes" can finally be understood, without the nuisance of a "bleep!" every 3.2 secs. Beyond that, we still don't have "freedom" of speech. In the 60's, and early 70's, when Nixon was in office - he silenced people left and right. Abbey Hoffman had to be on the run constantly, all over the U.S. simply because he wanted to start an equalist movement of peaceful, non-war people called 'Yippies". It happened then, it's happened since then, and it will happen again. You're free to speak in this country so long as the Gov't doesn't mind that much. Get out of line.. guess what - your freedom will be revoked.
2. Firearms are legal. Within certain boundaries. Obviously every state has a different set of laws, but effectively you can own just about any sort of gun, and keep it loaded and within your home in any of the 50 states. But, how great is that? And, no amount of laws are going to change the fact that criminals will still be able to get guns quicker, cheaper, and easier than anyone who's not "in the streets". While this may still be somewhat of an upstanding freedom in our country, who's to say that's truly a good thing? Interesting Factoid - according to the statistical-checking folks who helped make "Bowling for Columbine" possible - Canada has 10 million families, 7 million of which own guns - but only 165 murders last year. We had 11,000+. Other countries were between 30-100 murders, all around the world. It's not always because of guns, it's also because we're a country who makes everyone pay for shit. Nothing can ever be just "worked out", it has to be "declared war against!"... The war on drugs, war on terrorism, war on poverty, war on AIDS, war on diabetes --- the list goes on and on. Fuck that shit. Fuckin' self-important pricks. Let it go. Fuck your war-lovin' American asses.
3. Democracy? Give me a break. This isn't a gov't FOR the people, or BY the people at all. Ideally, if everyone could vote (and I mean EVERYONE, including pre-18 year olds) for EVERY law passed, and EVERY ordinance passed with EQUAL KNOWLEDGE of the laws and ordinances being passed - then we'd be fine. But, it just doesn't work like that. What happens is that we're allowed to vote for a certain amount of things here and there, and there's never a solid place to go to get both sides of the argument, there's not enough public information about what's being voted on, and not enough information on when a vote will be taking place - plus, the only people who are voting now-a-days are scared, bored housewives. That's why we're a nation of scared, gun-toting, angry, war-loving pussies. Remember... Rome was a democracy once too.. and it fell.
4, We may have low unemployment rates, and 1000's of jobs waiting around every corner. But, at what cost? 50% of what you make goes back to the Gov't. And, what does that pay for? Have you ever thought about that? If you go to the hospital, YOU pay. School? YOU pay. Housing? YOU pay. Electricity, Water, Cable, Phone? YOU pay. Food? YOU pay. About the only thing you pay for that most people use are roads. And, those are always under construction. Why? because they have to justify their inflated budgets for road construction. Believe me, the roads are never as broken as they seem. People like to claim medicare, Social Security, Welfare, bla bla bla is being taken care of out of our taxes by the Gov't. But why do we have to pay for that? If the Gov't runs the country, then the Gov't should say to the businesses (i.e. hospitals) "hey, we'll take the check" and pay them. The Gov't will never be broke - because they run everything. It's all imaginary money anyway, when you think about it. So, they pay.. and maybe pay the people less, and take care of more things for them out of that. I'd gladly pay 60% in taxes if it meant my meals, and/or housing was taken care of. Maybe a medical bill? Nah, can't count on the Gov't to do that.. they just work here.
5. The press isn't free. Not monetarily of course, but I don't even mean there. One instance - cigarette companies can't advertise on TV, in the newspaper, on billboards - pretty much just a select number of magazines and in gas stations. Beyond that - do you really think TIME magazine would get away with printing an article that states that the cure for cancer could be just around the corner but we'll never know because the drug companies that kill people who have cancer and charge them for doing so are making billions of dollars every year? No, sorry - that article would never even make it to the press. There would be jobs lost, lives lost, injunctions from every corner of the country over that one. Same thing w/AIDS, believe me. Everything you read in the press has already been bought, paid for, and re-sold again to a nation of scared, overfed, ready-to-consume white people.
So, I pose the question: what makes this country so great??
Personally, I'm ready to move to Canada. Or Germany. England. Australia. It doesn't matter. I think I'm ready to live in a country where nudity and vulgar language is on national TV for the asking - and no one makes a second guess at "is all this sex and violence making our kids wanna kill each other???". Where the gov't helps alleviate monthly bills, the crime-rates are low, the pride level of a lying country and unreliably pathetic Gov't isn't so fuckin' outrageously high, and the people are less religiously fanatic. Other countries have freedom too, ya know. It's not like you can't be jewish, christian, buddhist, catholic, atheist, or agnostic in Germany, or in England. It's not like you can't say "Ya know, the Canadian Gov't sucks!" in Canada. People tend to think we're just so goddamned free in this country - but have you looked around? We're the laughing stock of this world. The only reason anyone gives a flying fuck about America is because we consume some 60% of the world's goods. We're fattened up, overpaid, lied to, scared out of our minds by 24 hour media attention.. and to what great purpose? To be American! Fuck all that shit.
I just know if Bush decides we're going to war because he has a fuckin' penis-size complex, my happy ass is holding up the nearest Canadian flag and marching the FUCK outta here. And, if we don't go to war, and things return to pre-911 state, and Bush gets the fuck out of the chair he was never meant for? Well, then I'm off to New York to live it up until I get rich enough to buy myself some land in the Amazon forests of Brazil and build a nice, big dream house.
Feel free to comment - I'd really love to hear an intelligent answer to the question - What makes America so great?
(and, before you answer that question, I suggest you see "Bowling for Columbine", you won't feel so strong in your American opinions once you do, I guarantee)
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(6 comments | comment on this)
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2:09 am - Smoking is bad... MMmmkay?
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Anyone who knows me for more than..... 5 minutes, offline, knows I'm a smoker. I smoke about... a pack, pack-and-a-half a day. Ya know what? I FUCKING LOVE IT! I really do. I love the taste, I love the experience, I love doing stupid little smoke tricks. It relaxes me, wakes me up, puts me to sleep. It's a good friend.... albeit one that "slowly kills me". Well, we've all got our bad sides. Thing is... my smoking was rarely an issue a few (like 5-6) years ago. It was, to some, a minor annoyance in the world. No biggie. But, my friends, this has gotten horribly fucked.
Let's suppose, just for one goddamned minute, that the EPA was full of complete and utter bullshit while compiling their ETS report. Just for shits and giggles - let's suppose there's been absolutely no hardcore evidence to support the idea that second-hand smoke does anything more harmful to someone than a minor annoyance. Would you all still sneer, and quote stupid little facts clipped from a newspaper at me while I walk the streets and smoke? Would you still be 100% in favor of all-non-smoking restaurants and bars, forcing us to go outside in the freezing cold or burning heat just to enjoy a quick cigarette? Before you non-smoking "I love my nice, pink lungs" non-smokers go yelling "HELL YES, I HATE CIGARETTE SMOKE!" I want you to realize something. No one ever tells you that you can't drive your car down any public road you choose at any time of night. The media isn't screaming "don't have that child! children just clog up an already heavily over-populated world!" at you. And, you'll hear nary a complaint at bars that "there's too many drunks in here". Yet, all of those things can have (and have had) serious detrimental effects on both the people engaged in the activity, and those who are effectively little more than innocent bystanders.
One example - I don't like drunk people. I really don't. If I'm drunk (a rarity, as many who know me can attest to), and there's another drunk around me - I sure hope he's a friendly (but not too friendly) drunk, or that she likes groping random strangers with piercings in their face *winks*. I'm rarely lucky on either account, however. And, I get mean-as-fuck drunk jock-type guys, groping and yelling at everyone around them and being a general annoyance. They love to assume that simply everyone around them is as amused by their drunken antics as they are. Often worse yet, I've found myself in the position of trying to shove away and ward off a very touchy-feely "I'm drunk and need to grab someone's crotch" woman. That puts me in the middle of a strange moral/sexual crossroad. On the one hand.. who doesn't like gettin' a good crotch grab? On the other.. I really can't, in good conscience, let an inebriated woman do things to me that I'm pretty sure she wouldn't do if she were fully sober. I know some people will say "no one does things drunk they wouldn't do sober - they'll just do it without shame". I don't buy that magazine. I just safely assume that if they're drunk - they've no idea what they're doing and I'm all the worse if I encourage or act on that behavior. This bloated paragraph has a point to it. If I really want to avoid drunk people - I avoid drunk places. Bars, parties, weird social gatherings, etc. I don't really avoid those things that often, though, because there's an amusement in some drunks - and in the casually "tossed" folk, there's a nice little kinship that I can enjoy the company of. If there's one too many drunken jock assholes... well, I'm outta that place faster than you can say "c'mon boys - let's play grab-ass with Officer Maloy!". In some ways, I'm a bit like Dante from Clerks. I would almost rather shit my pants than upset the natural order of the people around me. If someone's doing something I find extremely annoying, I try to take a temporary leave from the situation. If I'm unable to do that - I'll ask them to stop. If they won't stop... I have no choice but to either put up with it, or take permanent leave from the situation. I wouldn't purport to be the perfect human being - but I do think that if you don't like something, either change it, or get away from it. Ergo... if I don't like the drunks, but where I'm at requires drunks (i.e. a bar), I'll just put up with it. If you don't like smoking - don't go near it - or you'll just have to fuckin' put up with it.
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(14 comments | comment on this)
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1:57 am
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( Read more... )
Thanks to everybody who added me to their list - I hope to have the pleasure to talk to you all in the near future.
I also made a new icon for myself.
Do you guys dig it?
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(16 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, June 30th, 2003
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8:51 pm
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Thanks everybody for the nice response, you guys make me feel warm and cuddley inside hee hee.
I think I've got all of this LiveJournal thing down, well not really, but at least I know how to add people to my friends list :p
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5:10 pm - Hello Everybody!
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New to LiveJournal. I hope to find a collection of new friends. Does anybody know how to add people to my list? I'm kind of stupid hee hee.
I know how to join communitys, I think I'll go join some now.
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(6 comments | comment on this)
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mitczhert's journal