I keep on forgetting to post

This is to document my shame. I'll talk about something soon.

Until then, here's a nice mashup.

Get busy living or get busy dying

This is a pretty listless post. It seems as though I'm suffering some general anomie lately, which is probably spurred by some recent letdowns in the romance department. I can't really come up with anything substantive to say, but I've been listening to Fyfe Dangerfield's "She Needs Me" [HM] a lot lately.

The Tour of Lawrence was pretty awesome and has inspired me to start getting into bicycling again. Also, I should also have a new pair of running kicks this weekend which I'm pumped about. Anyway, check out this awesome action shot I took while volunteering during the Cat 4 criterium race on Sunday.



Needless to say, I had one of the best spots for watching the races and the rains held off just long enough for the final Pro 1/2 crit to wind up without much incident. Here's another cool shot after the rains started during the Pro 1/2 crit race.



All I can say is get busy living and watch the Tour de France. Yesterday's Stage 3 race was intense.

The graceful-code

"I don't wanna run no more, but I know that if I stop, I'll be another [blogga] headed to heaven hangin wit Pac." -Scarface

I learned late that the best way to suffer was in silence. Celebration, too, should be done with a bit of moderation: as God's Son (not pictured) says, "You gotta slide on a vacation; inside information keeps large [bloggers] erasin and their wives basin." Being too happy brings the world down just as surely as being too sad.

Scarface's stoicism comes from "knowin' all the scams, all the tricks to the trade": he's cognizant of the necessary steps to drag his customers down and drag his brothers up. He gets his. He sticks to the G Code, plays "by the rules," and "don't fuck around with new [bloggers], cause new [bloggers] is fools." (That we are, Scarface, but we're learning. We have our own Code: don't give legal advice, don't wear black before six, &c.) We, like him, don't photograph our friends (we don't want them to be outed as XO posters or ATL commenters) because we know that "on a picture you a victim, bottom line [blogger] fucked." And here, as he did, we seek to "only connect the real, stayin' down with the truth."

I like k-os (which stands for "knowledge of self," apparently) because he, like Scarface, The_Ryan and I, knows to keep himself under control whether times is good or times is bad. But all four of us want a better world; we want to date Natalie Portman, for starters. And our respective Natalie-Portman failures stick with us. But we can learn from them without getting whiny. As k-os preaches, "Call it baggage, I use it all to advantage." And elsewhere (below), he acknowledges his pretense at normality: he "tells lies to the people from the stage, pretending it's all good when inside it's fire and rage." But once digested and internalized, his relationship with his world becomes a mirror from which wisdom comes.

I am trying to break my bank account

To say I'm tired would be both an understatement and a lie because I'm twired. Recovering from an erratic Wednesday morning that had me driving an hour in the wrong direction, I spent my last five bucks cash on four cups of coffee at a hipster coffeeshop-slash-bar this evening. I've managed to fall out of favor with my checking account until Friday's payday hits, but I can only imagine this is practice for Life After Law School. At least it was coffee I spent the money on.

I've been jamming a ton of covers and remixes lately (most likely a byproduct of over-indulging over at Hype Machine) and I just can't stop hitting up JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound's cover [HM] of Wilco's "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" (it even comes with a video that I've embedded at the end of this post). Leading an upbeat jazzy ensemble, JC Brooks' vocals do no disservice to Wilco's rather low-key original [HM]. Also making the rounds is Eli "Paperboy" Reed and The True Loves' cover [HM] of Motörhead's "Ace of Spades," which, like the previously mentioned Wilco cover, adds an upbeat spiciness otherwise lacking in the original [HM]. Of course, I'm not disparaging the original versions by any means, but sometimes a good cover just does it for me, especially right now as we're past the halfway point of 2010.

I can't believe that it's July-eve already. June and the other five months weren't bad, but I'm ready for some changes and new directions for the second half of the year. Must be why I'm on a remixes and covers kick lately. Enjoy the video.

I'm great, Shatner's great

Look to the left of these words. Do you see it? This here Wagon is it. Plenty to dish out, but as much as there is on my plate these days, I can't overwhelm you or myself with these posts. So here's a picture of the Wagon after a night out on the town.

Recalling memories from undergrad and past summer flings, William Shatner's comprehensible track "Common People" [US] lays the foundation for a night of brief retrospection for this steward of the Wagon. I've got a Romeo y Julieta Reserve Maduro Toro with my name on it and the down time may just be right to enjoy it like the common person I am tonight. Then again, who knows what these summer nights have in store; plans change just as quickly as Kansas weather.

Speaking of Kansas weather, the Tour of Lawrence is coming up this weekend and it looks promising weather-wise right now. As a course marshal for Sunday's criterium races, I'll be honing my street-corner skills for my post-law school future on the busiest and fastest corner of the race which is sure to be nothing short of exciting. Plus, I get a whistle and a walkie-talkie, and that may be just enough to keep me out of the realm of commonness if not teetering on the brink of the uncommon.

Word.