move over Jefferson Starship...

the above is the result of a tag by the mez. the picture wasnt like that actually, i used picnik to put it all together and alter the original picture. i was amazed how the band name and the picture totally fit together, and the album name was somewhat related, too!
for now I TAG Shenry.
i have to see who else i still can tag, so bear with me.

but here's how you do it:

1. Go to “wikipedia.” Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2. Go to “Random quotations”
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3

The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3. Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days

Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Use photoshop, the gimp or similar to put it all together.

5. Post it to your blog with this text in the “caption” and TAG the friends you want to join in.

following the link from a recent post by meznor, phx and i just started the hundred push ups training program, and tomorrow we're starting the two hundred situps training program - so exciting! :D

the path

the publisher recommends getting nicely toasted before enjoying this cd on a quality stereo at a relatively high volume, slightly heavy on the base. like for real - no ghetto-blasters or desktop pc speakers - you wont hear the whole range of sound of the tunes and they'll sound like crap.

1. Hello

this is where you hear the sound of my voice.

2. Hawrań - Hop Dana, Dana

about the tune: i like this fusion of the traditional polish highlander music and the admixture of the dance beat. the base barely comes thru on my pc's soundcard, but sounded good on my car stereo. i like the shift from the single female vocalist to the female chorus, which, to me, has an unpolished (no pun intended), "real" , young, beautiful sound. wish they had a younger sounding guy though.

pertinence to the path: i was born in poland.


3. Hallucinogen – Wacko

the tune: this is i believe the 3rd discernible track out of a live set Hallucinogen (simon posford) played at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco on December 7th, 2001. most of Hallucinogen's music is meant to be listened to at high quality rather than just loud. i love the pumping base, the old school techno sounds, the fast left-right panning of some of the sounds, the cool, seamlessly blended samples, the lot of finely doctored sounds, the richness and fullness of the whole thing, its sci-fi, psychedelic feel. i've said it before and i'll say it again: friggin' simon posford rules.

the path: things were pretty crazy there.

4. Logic Bomb – Lodjik

the tune: same genre as the previous tune, plus wickedly modulated awesome samples. i love it.

the path: logically, many people were leaving.

5. Lisa Gerrard – Sacrifice

the tune: i've only heard this on the paul oakenfold album "Another World" which i bought in 2000. until i was collecting info for this cd swap, i'd thought this must have been a man singing in persian or something. turns out its an australian woman idioglossing. in this video this woman makes me think of a friggin' female version of the creepy, nosferatu-like "Strangers" of the movie "Dark City", which detracts from the song in my eyes, or ears, as the case may be. i liked how oakenfold used this track, contrasting it against a much faster tune, and i used it the same way.

the path: given the opportunity to leave the craziness, my parents viewed leaving poland for "the west" at least partly as a sacrifice, believing that they themselves might not reap much benefit from the move, but that at least their children can expect a better life.

6. Morcheeba – Public Displays of Affection

the tune: i was gonna use the unbelievably sensuous "Undress Me Now" - the best tune that i know by Morcheeba, but when i heard phx was thinking of using it too, i decided to use their song i like 2nd best. bittersweet, sung by the interesting, smooth, funky-accented voice of Morcheeba's original singer - Skye Edwards, this song always brings to my mind the images of couples in new, blossoming love, kissing just anywhere, slowly, sensuously, the girls' eyes half-shut, drunk with hormones, their faces glowing... every time i see these couples i melt. it's a beautiful sight. though the guys dont seem to have that drunk look about them.

the path: i've fallen in love once or twice, but i've also been the one who'd join in the fun if i had someone.

7. Superchick – One Girl Revolution

the tune: my little guilty pleasure - a christian rock tune. but i love the message. there's too many insecure young girls putting themselves thru too much shit. wish they got some of this song's attitude. and i like the beat of this tune. and the funkiness of it. and the singer's voice. the guitar sounds too much like christian rock though, but apparently the band is getting better.

the path: i've met a couple girls that could have used some brainwashing from this song.

8. Josh Abrahams – Totally Addicted to Bass

the tune: phx loves this tune. i love the vocals, the way they're distorted, too, and the beat. too bad there actually isnt that much of that bass they're all talking about in there. unless its deeper than my hardware can do. maybe some of you can juice their subs in their trunks and lemme know if there's something there that i'm missing.

the path: i got addicted to base.

9. Basement Jaxx – Rendez-Vu

the tune: awesome beat, love the guitar bits, nice base, cool vocals, overall sound.

the path: i got introduced to this tune cruising along a small highway packed with other tourists cruising to the same little summer party town - sunshine, nice looking car, windows rolled down, the couple inside decked out for clubbing, bopping to this tune blasting out, stuck on repeat :)

10. Kid Koala – Third World Lover

the tune: a smoothly developing, bollywood sample-based wicked driving tune by local born turntablist kid koala. for me it really kicks in around the 2.5 minute mark, when the jingly bells come in for good, and then the drum beat takes off.

the path: third world lover - c'est moi. also, this tune has etched paths in my brain during countless blazed 50 km drives home from work.

11. Squirrel Nut Zippers – Put a Lid On It

the tune + path: i was pleasantly shocked when i heard this tune first, on much music - the canadian version of mtv. people playing this kind of music nowadays??? awesome!!! until checking things out for this here blurb i'd thought this band was canadian, what with the whacky name and exposure on canadian tv and seemingly nowhere else. alas, they're from north carolina.

12. The Seatbelts – Tank!

the tune: this iconic opening song for the episodes of the anime series "Cowboy Bebop" rocks ass - the loose string guitar sound, the trumpets, the energy, down to the extended saxophone reef at the end - fucking awesome.

the path: i was exposed to cowboy bebop during my short stint in toronto, and it knocked me on my ass. a large part of the appeal of the series is the brilliant sound track - composed by Yoko Kanno. phx and I also got TanK(ed) in Spain once upon a time...

13. The Avalanches – Frontier Psychiatrist

the tune: australian group's hilarious sample-mania. among other gems in this tune, i love the little kid's answers to the woman's questions at the end.

the path: this boy needs therapy

14. Compay Segundo – Pobre Corazon

the tune: i'd written about my odyssey to find this tune in this post.

the path: ... my poor heart was lonely.

15. Il Était Une Fois – Mescalino (English ver.)

the tune: sung by a 70's french group whose name means "Once upon a time...", i like this english version of the song better than the french one, even though the english is awkward. i'm not crazy about the twangy guitar throughout the tune, especially for the long stretch at the beginning. but i like the somewhat rough-around-the-edges voice of the main vocalist, even his lisp, and the backup female vocals are really cool. apparently normally their main vocalist was this very mixed heritage, multi-talented woman, who tragically died of a pulmonary edema at age 29, a few years after the group broke up.

the path: during an extended emotional hemorrhage period after the break-up with my "stupid bitch" ex, i came up with the idea that such suffering is basically withdrawal symptoms from a drug - the drug called love, consisting of whatever hormones, pheromones, endorphins or whatever it was that we stopped getting.

16. Estopa – Tu Calorro

the tune: i have a love/hate relationship with the somewhat badass sound/attitude of the vocalist, but i do like this slightly traditional spanish sound that totally takes off at about the 1 minute mark when the female flamenco singer joins in. the lyrics are pretty cool, too, especially the chorus:
"your perfume is the venom
that contaminates the air which your hair cuts
that even cuts my speech and understanding
because it's the drug that turns my head crazy.
later i fall asleep in a bed hard as a rock
dreaming that you havent gone yet
dreaming that you're still touching me..."

the path: the band is from Barcelona, which phx and i found to be a pretty cool city, quite different from the rest of spain. we'd like to go back and spend some decent time there.

17. Jimi Hendrix – Manic Depression

the tune: that reiterating, unrelenting drum sequence, with that heavy base guitar - this is a shockingly underrepresented song of Jimi's. it didnt hit me until only a few years ago that the jimi hendrix experience had a really good drummer.

the path: i give jimi hendrix' music a good chunk of the credit for helping me get my nose above the surface of the sea of teenage depression i was drowning in when listening to metallica and nirvana.

18. Kottonmouth Kings – Proud to Be a Stoner

the tune: this is a rap tune, i guess, but i like the guitar, and having a melody to a rap tune does wonders for me, my general dislike of crap music.

the path: umm, so, what is my current relationship with pot..? i dont know if i'm proud - no more than being proud of being a beer drinker. but i dont feel i should hide it from everyone. (maybe just my parents, for now - i think that'd be too much of a blow for them: first their firstborn becomes a friggin' heathen, and now he's doing drugs.) and i dont consider myself a stoner. more like a smot poking aficionado, a one hit wonder, someone who likes to get high rather than stoned. funny how pot smokers often get a sensibility for nature. i did start smoking at the age of 18. and i am proud of my daughter and my son :)

19. Cheech & Chong – Santa Claus and His Old Lady

this comedy bit is thematically appropriate for this swap, as well as effen hilarious! one of the things that got me the most was when the dude said he doesnt know who santa claus is because he's from pittsburg so he doesnt know too many local dudes...

so without knowing it, i ended up doing what shenry used to, with the defining of the playlist first, influenced only partly by the theme, and then justifying the songs' pertinence to said theme later. still, it's all true and will provide insight into me and my path for those who might be curious.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! :)

phew - almost forgot to make my positive entry of the day - well, it is the next day but i havent gone to sleep yet, so that should be ok.
there's several i can think of - the morning started with remembering that its friday - so that was cool - and i'd slept-in like a mofo - so that was cool too. listening to the dopecast - sans dope - that was chill. bla bla, work crap - then sampling some "juicy fruit" was cool, brought back a taste i havent had in years. realizing that a lot of work stuff was done already was cool.
getting everything together to work on the jetta was a relief in itself - before even starting any work. hearing that a friend is pursuing happiness over the mammon was cool, even if it does mean that i wont be really working for him for any length of time like we thought - but it might not even turn out that way. and now the crimpins tree is sitting neatly in 4 boxes, ready to be shipped off to my 'rents' garage - so thats a win. ok - my's ready to hit the hays :)

the time leading up to the holidays was dreadful, the holidays themselves werent much better, and i'm back to the grind. hitting another low point on new year's day, i was thinking about a fellow blogger's advice to just force myself into a positive mindset, think happy thoughts, *make* it happen. but i just couldnt/wouldnt - didnt happen, i wondered if i was simply more comfortable because more familiar with the depressed metal state or something. but i'm not really depressed most of the time, i dont think... either way, fast-forward to to my shower today, and i suddenly felt that i wasnt really down, and felt almost... positive or something. and then i remembered trying to feel happier when i wasnt, and thought that its so much easier to do when ur not totally down. and then i remembered my ex's "therapy" as advised by her doctor once - put little red stickers at various places around the house and places you look, and every time you see one of those - think a happy thought - a way to get the mind in the habit of thinking and feeling happy. so i decided to finally try it too - i put one little penguin sticker on the coffee maker, and one above the comp screen - that way my earliest moments of the day should get the positive vibe going. and i thought to make a new years' resolution - even though a few days late - i'm going to try to post at least one positive thought on the blog every day.
so - ...
man, my happiness kinda fizzled there. think happy, or positive. its friday tomorrow! thats kinda good. hmm.
this is depressing - i get brought down so easily. i get to smoke up and listen to the dopecast's 100th episode tomorrow morning..? well, that, the fact that its friday, and the fact i made this resolution should count for something. we'll see tomorrow.

started a new blog - port-a-potty art

approaching the transcendental object at the end of time

things are speeding up and getting crazier and crazier. or are they more and more crazy..? bah - no time for semantics. or propper grammar. "the crib project" is still going strong. bought a used wooden crib. noticed it had some scratches on it. thought i could sand them down and touch it up. then thought that it would be obvious where it was touched up, even if i found a good match for the veneer or whatever it is. so i thunk i'd just sand the whole bloody thing and recoat it with some thing nicer, more transparent. sanded one surface of one endpiece down with an electric sander, and thought there must be a better way. home depot sells these paint-on strippers - jusrt remove them mess with a putty knife. big mistake. the crap softened the wood more than the veneer, and so it was impossible to get it all off properly, so most of the crap just dried on, making the wood even darker, but still sticky, and the putty knife scarred the wood like a bitch. we went on to try and wipe at least some of the goop off with a paint thinnner, and sand the rest down. this has worked ok. i must have put like 4 full days of work into this by now, with other people helping too. i could have bought more than one brand new crib by now if i'd spent the time working. thats a big price to pay to learn a thing or 2 about woodwork. the crib is finally sanded and i test painted the first coat of the veneer onto a small area of the crib - we'll see how it turns out. its a crazy heat wave over here. i had sweat dripping down my face when installing the car seat for the baby. lots of swearing, but its done. noe just gotta certify it or whatever it is they do. phx' feet keep swelling like crazy, but she keeps helping. i'm very lucky to have her for a wife :)
i better get going help her prep breakfast and then onto our new place - try to fix the walls and test wash the carpet - see if its worth keeping.

ah, what a turmoil of events - Phx' bros stayed with us for a few days, the edmonton oilers are doing surprisingly well on this comeback of theirs - we'll see if they actually win the cup tomorrow! :)
poland got their asses kicked by germany - kinda played hookey from work to see that one, or at least half of it :) it was a good game, but finally in the first minute of overtime the better team scored a very good goal. too bad the fans couldnt keep their pants on later.
went to the annual dragonboat races, which turned out to be mostly a big corporate presence gig with a lot of crappy volunteering and seemingly only a few decent volunteers actually trying hard to hold it all together. i dont know what they feel they get out of it. maybe i should ask them.
finally finished rigging together a semi-acceptable automated irrigation dealy for my 'rents, only to realise that i could have probably just used an off-the-shelf $20 timer and a lot less work for probably better results. where's that critical thinking when u need it. oh well, at least didnt spend $20 and learned a little something.
started wondering about maybe moving way out of the city and getting a job way out there, but then got into a catch 22: if i change jobs now, i wont be able to get a mortgage based on zero months at a company. if we buy a place out there somewhere, i'll have to commute from very far away in horrible traffic until i find something better out there. if i find something better. so we finally decided that we'll just comtinue with the present plan, and then slowly start looking at a better job out there, and if i do find one, its always easier to commute against traffic than with traffic. but i'll lose the 3 weeks vacation i should start getting this year.
a buddy wants me to do a job in a remote location - they'd fly me out into the bush and hopefully i'd get this done in 3 days. they'd pay well. but i'd probably have to take those 3 days off during the week - meaning it would come off my vacation time. the company i'm working for full time might not feel comfortable at the moment giving me 3 days off on short notice, especially in light of the fact that i'll be asking for like a week or 10 days off when our baby arrives - very soon. but the pay would be very good.
i've been thinking again about how to increase my income, while at the same time decrease the effort put into it. i thunk about how i had a few mediocre ideas, but didnt actually try implementing any of them, partly because they were mediocre. but then i got to thinking about how probably most ppl who finaly made it big with an idea, tried a few different ideas first, which didnt work out. and that brought me to a fact i am well aware of - that i'm not a doer, but rather a thinker. so i thunk i should really start exercising my will, not be such a spectator, but actually set some goals, set out a plan of action to achieve them, and then just follow the steps to achieve them! right now a big time waster for me is the computer - i use like i used to use TV: it's an escape. i should set out what goals i want to achieve before i turn the damned thing on. i sorta did this already - i wanted to write this blog entry, then go into the classifieds to lower my car price by $500, check email and go to sleep.
we'll see how it turns out! :)

trying to pack for camping, but its midnight, i'm kinda tired, and theres still a bit to do. i had dreams of doing something different while camping this time - why go to all this trouble, drive so far into "wilderness", just to sit in one spot and get loaded, recover till noon next day, then repeat. twice. i mean, i think i tend to try and take some of this nature in a wee bit, but this time i wanted to do a little project - maybe build a raft out of whatever is available, or like a shack. but building a raft then trying to take it to the other shore of the lake, or to an island - that would rawk! :)
but i havent done my research, got no plan, so i guess we'll really have to try and improvise - big time. too late to grab a cordless drill from work and some big screws. but i wonder if i could find some big nails at my 'rents tomorrow morning... and a hammer. no - a hatchet would be more useful :) hmm, a couple more minutes pondering this and i will have a plan! :D but its supposed to rain a bit all day tomorrow. well, hope all the peeps already there have put up a tarp so we can have a fire... on which i can roast these kick-ass cheddar+jalapeno smokies i got today! :) man, havent had those in years... good times :)
talked to mr. mo for a bit today. the dude's got some interesting things to say sometimes. i thought he was from kenya so i asked him - yes he was. so i told him how i know this chick who went down to kenya to volunteer at a countryside orphanage for a bit, and then she's planning to make her way down to south africa. mr. mo said that apparently there's lots of volunteers and people like that in kenya, and quite a few english teachers, etc, but he said that a lot of them are "fubus". waza? "cia" he says. whaa???
turns out that kenya is quite the melting pot, with many different peoples, and among them refugees, as well as "terrorists" (he used the "finger quotation marks") and other people who are hiding out for some reason or another. and so there's apparently a bit of an intelligence agent community present, mostly to gather info. right away i thought of Interzone out of the movie "Naked Lunch", which i've vowed to one day actually buy and watch for a third time , but sober for a change. so far i think i quite like it :) i found out recently that it was made by the same guy that did "eXistenZ" or whatev the spelling, which i bought long ago but only recently finally watched. what a psychedelic dude - really funky shit. i think its david cronenberg.
so anyways, it was pretty cool to hear a bit of an opinion on africa from someone from there - i guess the word would be a "native". apparently theres quite an ethnic indian population in kenya, but apparently the perception of them by the black population is that they're not hard workers and all they do is talk about people behind their backs. but other than that, mr. mo says that people in east africa are generally friendly and welcoming. but the further north and west you go in africa, the worse the people get. apparently the people in northern sudan think themselves to be arabs and therefore superior to the non-arab population. cool to hear interesting little bits of info, even if it is somebody's opinion - right or wrong.
ok, its a quarter after 1 am - better finish packing and get to bed :)

it is becoming apparent to me that i dont "like" to "create" or "produce", and am most at ease observing. such a lifestyle is doomed to fail. extinction. i mean, i work for a living but i dont really like it most of the time. one has to contribute to the world, the society one lives in - otherwise one's just a parasite. hehe - isnt one :)
i like to listen, read, watch, look, accompany, but rarely if ever do i actually "generate" anything. seems like i just respond to stimuli - a friggin' glorified cuckaroach. right now i'm supposed to be fixing a comp for a friend of my rents' - and it involves having to learn and troubleshoot and figure out just why the bloody thing wont work. this could be viewed as an exciting prospect - exploring, learning and all that jazz. but i got some internal brakes firmly on. i think it was easier to "just do it" when i smoked pot. i think i'm more productive when i smoke pot. then i dont seem to mind nearly as much getting into unfamiliar territory or whatever adversities. or doing something i dont really feel like doing or dont like. seems like i'd rather talk about it instead of just doing it.

ha!

riiiight - just take the water pump off...
*grumble grumble*
to take the water pump off u must take the alternator off - check section 10 or whatev. so i go there, find it and it says - to take alternator off, u must take the power steering out! ok - that p'd me off a wee bit. many hours later i finally took off both. then it turned out i had to take the tensioner pulley bracket off too. but not before i tried hard to pry the stupid pump off - to no avail. the tensioner bracket had a bolt hidden underneath. well- i finally did manage to get the waterpump off - hope that was the only problem, although i know it is not likely :(
ok - now to bed i said! :D


the talon - being gutted out

still wrenching... :)

finally got the timing belt off - now for the water pump! :D

then try to recombobulate ebryting back together - wonder how long thats gonna take...
i already know i messed up the grooves on the crankshaft pulley with the friggin' chain-wrench - so i'll have to fix that up before putting it back on. hope it can be done w/o having to buy a new one.


i wonder how many ppl are blogging about the Baslan massacre today. sad day. and this shit happens all over the world regularly. i wonder how this is going to affect things are in russia. i heard on tv and agree that russia is going to invest even more in the military, and even more money is going to be pulled away from everything else. so a poorer, more militarised russia? this cant be good. there's probably gonna be a lot of attacks on innocent muslims and even "darker looking" russians. and all because of a handful of desperate, misguided, stupid people. i imagine they all felt justified in what they were doing. their families have probably been severily hurt and decimated by the russian - chechen conflict. they've likely lost children of their own. but they should have been smarter than that. they should have understood that no one in their right mind will release people from jail who will create even more grief the first chance they get. holding children hostage will only make u more enemies. whatever faith they are - their god is supposed to be a merciful god, who does not condone violence. armed conflict does not solve anything - unless maybe if ur an overwhelmingly huge army that will effortlessly thwart their enemy - but even then... usually change takes time. but if ur impatient and arrogant - then maybe you should be killed before u do anybody any harm.
i'm just ranting. but i guess i'm a bit shocked. in times like this i just try to think that even though horrible things like this happen - humanity just keeps ploughing ahead. we should all do our part and try to make this world better for our kids and their kids - but when shit happens, i guess we cant let it stop us. emotions are such a detriment so often. ppl pay great attention to how they're feeling. i bet that's the single biggest reason for drug addiction. including alcoholism. and cigarettes. possibly coffee. and sugar. chocolate probably forming part of it.

did i mention that i hate stupid people? cant really kill'em tho - might as well make them work and make my life a little more comfortable. i think i can see society clearly separating in the future into 2 classes - stupids and smarts. i wonder if eventually we'll become 2 species...
well - there's smarts and smarts. but i guess there's been an upper class of ppl for a long time - all the old dynasties and noble families - they've been having poor people work for them for generations upon generations. if ur family stays consistently at a standard of living higher than the average, *especially* in the face of adversity - then i'd say chances are good that ur DNA is predisposed for that higher standard of living, above the average human. is it gonna get to the point where we're like the alien civilisation from "alien nation" - i forget what species they were supposed to be. maybe even more so. like humans and monkeys.

i'm yawning something fierce here - maybe i should hit the hays already..? but i still wanna take out that water pump - that shouldnt be that hard - i just have to do it. and then shower. and THEN hit the sack.
well - best git on it :)

*still* wrenching on the car again...

the crankshaft pulley bolt wont come off - cant turn it! :(
i've been dousing it with WD-40 , then this liquid wrench wanna be whatchacallit. for some reason the instructions said to take one of the engine mounts off and THEN try to get that friggin crankshaft bolt off - well - the whole engine moves! so - back on the mount goes.

i got a digital camera! :D tooo sweet! :D bought it from my friend marcin for $65 just the other day - i rike it a rot! :D
goin' be postin' me sum pitchers n'this here blawg perty soon! :D

but first i gotta find out from my gf how its done :D

ok - back to the car.

but i'm happy i've already cleaned up so much today! :)

ok - before all this happiness goes - i best git to it now :)

wrenching on the car again...

or trying not too :)
feeling slightly apprehensive about making sure the #1 piston is at TDC, taking off the left engine mount while making sure the engine is supported by "something" from underneath that at the same time wont damage the oil pan, then discombobulating ebryting on the LHS of the engine - including all the pulleys and timing belt cover, which will include using the mysterious chain wrench to hold the crankshaft pulley while i loosen the bolt that holds it in place - all the while making sure i dont actually move the cranshaft from TDC, taking the timing belt off - to finally get to take out the water pump which i *think* is where my water leak is at. then put on the new timing belt, re-combobulate ebryting and hope to hell it all works afterwards. THEN i'll see if the elusive oil leak resurfaces - i dont want to lose 3/4 of my oil on the side of the highway again. why the fuck is this goddam blog eating some letters while i'm writing it??!! grr.
well - les'go'n'git to it... :0