gotjenkins.com

we had to revise the DMB schedule for the summer. we’re now doing ohio in august and st louis/kansas city in may. september’s out. it’s too far away and it will be too hard to get the time off. looks like charges have come through for all of my tickets. originally there were only pending charges for the ohio shows and I was worried that I would be taking my chances with ticketbastard… I haven’t had to use ticketmaster for DMB tickets since 2000, and i’d like to keep that winning streak alive.

the new matt nathanson live album comes out next week, but itunes started selling it yesterday. probably in error, i’d imagine. so even though i preordered it, i went ahead and downloaded it from someone last night so that I had something to listen to at work today. i’ve heard some initial complaints about the mix and stuff, but i honestly think it’s pretty good. quite enjoyable, if you ask me. there’s also a track where matt talks about how he ripped his pants last time he was in saint louis (http://www.gotjenkins.com/rippedpants.mpg). thankfully we were able to catch that moment on video, as it’s hysterical. watch it if you haven’t seen it. lots of people are down on matt; usually because he swears like a drunken sailor or because he plays covers of 80’s hair band hits, but i’ve grown to enjoy his music and his concerts quite a bit.

I’m also excited for his new album that should be out later in the year. he road tested some of the new stuff last summer/fall, and it’s all been pretty good so far. i’m interested to see where he goes with it in a studio and with the band.

i never thought i’d say this, but i’m also excited about john mayer’s continuum, which should be out this year. it’s two discs, from what i’ve read: a john mayer trio style disc (which better have ‘another kind of green’ and ‘gravity’) and an ‘inside wants out’ style disc, which should also be good.

what else am i interested in? video games. now that our audit is finished, i’ve had some time to catch up on all the games that i bought or got for christmas. i’ve played KOTOR II twice now – once good and once evil – and that was great. hopefully there will be a KOTOR III that will bring together the paths of Revan and the Exile in the unknown regions. great games.

now i’m working on Black and White II, which is a little bit like Sim City, except you’re a god instead of a mayor. it’s a pretty cool concept, and unlike Sim City, there’s actually missions and objectives and a plot (which was always one of my big bitches about the sim-games.) you can be an evil god or a compassionate god, and you have a creature – an avatar – that basically serves as your pet and does your bidding. it can crush the enemy, or eat people, or take a crap on a villager (or if the good god is more your thing, it can build buildings, gather food, and entertain people.) it’s pretty fantastic, although in all fairness, i’m not very far into the game.

after that i’m going to start kingdom hearts two, which is finally out. i’ve played it for about an hour now pretty much just screwing around, and i think it’s got the potential to be really enjoyable. plus from what i’ve read, it ties up all the loose ends and actually answers all the plot questions.

after that? who knows. too far away. i know that at some point i need to tackle fable: the lost chapters and dragon quest eight (i even bought one of the slime controllers to play it with), and i have a bunch of other stuff too.

better hurry, though: the ps3, a new zelda, and final fantasy XII are all quickly approaching. not to mention plenty of other quality titles that aren’t as ‘big name.’

speaking of games, laura’s playing through FFIX right now. i had almost forgotten how great of a game that was. everything about it – from the game play to the plot to the character development – was really good. the ending is one of the best out there, which is saying something considering that the FF games are often hit-or-miss on the endings…

[/dork]

alright, so i like video games and music. leave me alone, damnit. some people do drugs, some people get tatoos, some collect weird things, and yet others like the naked time in large groups. we all have our vices – mine’s just kind of geeky.

tuesday is the worst day of the week. there’s no other way to look at it.

the weekends are good.
mondays aren’t great, but they’re not as bad as most people thing – you’re coming off two days off, and so it’s not so bad. you spend part of the day catching up with people, getting things together for the week, checking your email and listening to voicemails.

wednesdays are okay. they’re the hump. you still have a long way to go to the next day off, but you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

thursdays are good. on thursday, you can see friday, and where there’s friday, there’s a weekend.

fridays are great. on friday you know you’re good for two more days. for most people friday is a slow day, an easy day, tying up loose ends from the week and beginning to plan for the next week. most work places recognize casual friday, so that’s usually a plus too.

but tuesday? tuesday’s nothing. tuesday is the second day of the work week. you last day off was two days ago, and the end of the week seems so far away. tuesday is guaranteed to be the longest day of the week, regardless of how many hours you work.

today is, in fact, tuesday.

another great example of things that don’t make any damn sense:

my grandma is in her late 70’s. her and grandpa aren’t especially active people; they spend most of their time at home, retired, watching TV, doing what retired people do.

when I say that they spend most of their time at home, it’s no exaggeration to say that they don’t leave the house. it doesn’t ever usually happen, unless there’s a special occasion. grandpa goes fishing, but grandma probably doesn’t leave the house but once – maybe twice – a month.

they have one car that grandpa drives. i don’t know if grandma could drive it or not – it’s a van, and i don’t know that she’s capable or that she even has a license anymore.

so my uncle – who is a very smart person – bought her a cell phone last week. a brand new cell phone, with internet connectivity, polyphonic music ringtones, address books, games, instant messaging, all of that fancy cell phone crap.

i think it’s stupid. i think it’s beyond stupid. i can’t think of a single reason that she could possible need a cell phone for. not one. not medical issues, not emergencies, nothing. even if she fell down the steps or something, she wouldn’t have the phone with her to call for help because she probably won’t carry it around with her in the house.

oh, yeah – and she can’t talk because of a tracheotomy she had so long ago that i don’t even remember when it was. she opted not to use the little voice-box-that-sounds-like-a-drive-through-window thing and has just found other ways to communicate.

she doesn’t talk. well that’s not entirely true, she talks a little bit, but certainly not well enough to use a cell phone.

she doesn’t talk. someone bought her a cellphone. makes perfect sense.

it makes about as much sense as those devices that flash real brightly when the phone rings. the premise is that if the thing flashes when the phone rings, a person who is hard-of-hearing (err… ‘aurally challenged’) would know that there was a phone call.

someone didn’t think that one through very well… if you can’t hear well enough to hear the phone ring, what makes you think you can hear well enough to carry on a conversation on the phone? what’s the point? is there some cosmic rational that i just didn’t get?

ahh well. such is life, i suppose. i personally am waiting for the day when i can buy a car with braille on the controls and use it to go to the drive through liquer store.

well it’s that wonderful time of year again – the dmb published their summer tour dates this week.

what’s on tap this year:

5/30 saint louis
5/31 kansas city
8/1 ohio
8/2 ohio
9/22 charlottesville
9/23 charlottesville

that’s a highly theoretical list. financial restraints, work/time off restraints, and ticket availability all influence this list. saint louis is probably a definate, considering it’s the only one that i can go to without missing any work. kansas city is the most likely to cause a problem, just because of the time of year that it is for me and for laura. ohio is anyone’s guess, and charlottesville is perfect for me schedule wise, but i am concerned that the tickets are going to be a hot commodity.

i’m also looking forward to some matt nathanson shows in the area, but all of the summer dates aren’t out yet. bela fleck and the flecktones are also in town on april first, and I think we’re hitting that (but i dont know if we’re taping it or not… seems like it might be a pain in the ass to get our stuff in.)

i would really like to see some mike doughty tour dates come up, along with maybe some robert randolph shows. maybe i’ll hit up pollstar and see what is coming up that i didn’t know about… i’m having a little bit of concert withdrawl right now. concert cabin-fever, if you will. the cure? more cowbell.

lunch is about up, but when i get a chance i have a story about my family to tell that just might explain why i’m crazy.