“It’s the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls never have the time.”
-Tallulah Bankhead

And I think it’s a fair statement. With that, I’m closing this blog as it currently stands. I’m tired of talking about me. I’m glad I’ve had an audience, and I’m sure I’ll find some use for this poundcommapound.com identity, but until I figure that out I’m just going to leave it alone. At the moment, I’m kind of thinking I may use it to experiment with various web-building ideas during downtime with work.

Anyway, before I go I’ll catch everyone up with what’s been going on.

First, I’m still doing The Wading Girl, which honestly wasn’t an easy decision. I’m really interested in the idea of making a thing happen, and feel like the talent and quality-control is there to do so, but he business side of the band hasn’t really been up to my standards yet. As with most things I’ve done, I feel like I do well with the planning and orchestration of things, but I feel like it’s been an uphill battle to have a voice. We had a “band-meeting” the other day and I feel like everybody got that I’m not an idiot and might actually be able to contribute to the organization to some degree — which ultimately feels like more fun to me. If nothing else, I’ve learned that I kind of hate playing music, but as I keep saying to people I feel like it’s kind of shitty to have the ability to do it and refuse. That said, I’m going on with it as of now, even if my motivations aren’t the same as anyone else’s.

Also, I’m getting freelance work, and intend to make that into a career. I’ll be relaunching pixelluxe.com next month (time-permitting) and focusing on blogging there about more topical subjects — CSS, standards, etc — so keep an eye on that if you really need to read me (and don’t mind it being technical in nature). This is shaping up to be a pretty lucrative time of year for me, and I really need it. I haven’t been this broke in years, and it blows. It sounds like I’ll make somewhere in the $6000-$8000 range by the end of September. Hard to complain about that.

I met a girl I like and I’ve been spending most of my time with her. As with anything, it took me forever to decide if this is what I want, but I finally did choose and at this moment I’m pretty happy. It’s been oddly domestic so far, the humor of which isn’t lost on my habitually messy ass. I actually do dishes here and everything. Tell me I can’t grow…

Alright. That’s all you get until I either repurpose or change my mind about the usefulness of this little corner of the web. It’s been real. Keep hustlin’.

I’m breaking my silence to say that Columbus, OH is a shithole to end all shitholes. Sorry to any of you that may have love for it, but I certainly didn’t find anything lovable about the place.

I’m probably done writing about this tour. It’s starting to be pretty unfun. I’ve been sick the whole time, and that’s just taking too much out of me. We had yesterday off, and somehow I feel no better for it. I really had high hopes for the day of rest. I did manage to get ass-stinking drunk, though, and I definitely wanted that to happen.

Anyway, I’ve probably said before that tour is nothing but highs and lows (and I’m too lazy to go back and check), but I’ve been low pretty much since Pittsburgh, with the exception of the times when I’ve been too drunk to notice. Since that’s probably as healthy in reality as it sounds on (internet) paper, I’m just going to stop talking and just count off the days until I can lay in a bed and give in to this sickness for long enough to actually heal from it.

Forget anything nice I said about Pittsburgh. That place is fucking weird. And muggy, if you ask Garfield Artworks.

Since then we’ve played Cleveland and Detroit, too. They were the two smallest crowds. Also, I think I’m sick.

I saw Annie in Detroit. She’s still fully amazing.

We’re in Chicago today. There are buildings here. Many of them are tall.

There’s a chance I’m phoning this post in. I can’t bring myself to care today.

…but that seems to be the only thing wrong with it, so far. We just pulled in a little bit ago, and are currently sitting at a coffee shop I rather enjoy called The Quiet Storm. There’s something like five bands on the bill tonight, so it’ll probably be a late one.

We did the Black Cat in DC last night, and it was super fun. Before the show we just wandered around a lot. We ate at Cosi in Dupont and got caught in a rainstorm. Good times. I was really grateful that I got to see a lot of friends at the show. Robert was there with his buddy Gary and Jeremy, who let us stay at his house (there were enough couches for everyone to have one — talk about luxury), Marisa came with someone from her work, Carmen also came with a co-worker, Erin (see my 4 day long supercrush in February) showed up, and Caleb surprised me by being there, too. It’s so nice to see people you know when you’re doing all these things that are so far from your routine. The hard part was trying to spread my time between everyone. I feel like I couldn’t really have a conversation with anyone since there were so many of them, but still, I’m stoked they were around.

The shows went super well last night. We played two songs in Small’s set after only practicing each once, and they went really well I thought. The Wading Girl played what I think may have been one of our best sets ever (despite having to cut two songs due to time constraints) and the crowd was really attentive and supportive for everyone. I ended up getting maybe a little too drunk, and for some reason on this tour that translates into me getting really loud and stupid. It’s fun for me, but probably unbearable for anyone else. Oh well. A fan gave us a couple J’s and that helped me get my first great night of sleep on tour. Thank you, fan.

Also, I found still more sand in my nose this morning. That really seems like a problem.

Today was Virginia Beach. The crowd was pretty alright, as was the rest of the day. We ate at some weird local place with one woman doing the cooking and serving. What she lacked in charm, looks, and kindness, she made up in ridiculousness. Also, she touched my back in a way that strangers should not. Ever. We played in the ocean, too, and I got beat up pretty badly by it. I was trying to avoid a wave but ran into Shaun and we both ended up getting hit and doing cartwheels underwater. I landed on my head and was spitting blood for a minute. Three hours later a tablespoon worth of water came out of my nose, and I have no idea where it had been in the meantime. Also, I’m still digging sand out of my nose, 12 hours later. Punk fuckin’ rock.

Richmond was weird. We spent the day basically just bumming around town — lunch at 821, downtime at Crossroads, Guitar Hero and porch squatting at Hi-Ho’s place, then on to the venue for sweet $2 burgers and our ’show’. It was hilariously weird, in ways I won’t describe in print. Ask me. The dudes from Mason-Dixon Disaster came down and hung out, and they were so nice. They helped with the PA and just all around improved the night — especially since basically no one else came.

I’m really concerned that something is wrong with my foot. It started feeling weird on stage in Philly, and hasn’t felt right since. It tingles oddly. I’m worried that it got bitten by a spider or something, but there’s no mark that I can see (at least not through all the mosquito bites).

Today we have a short drive — less than two hours — and we play at Virginia Beach. We’re going to head down early and just splash around for a while before the show. I haven’t been in the ocean in four years or so. Last time I remember going to VA Beach, I got the shit beat out of me by jellyfish. Here’s to hoping my legs are safe this time.

Here is my vantage point during BoySetsFire’s set. Also, notice how many people were there (go clicky to make biggie)…

So here we are again. It’s weird to me that the only time I feel like writing is when I’m on the road. There’s a chance that my life is just really uninteresting now, aside from the music. Or maybe it’s just that I’m bored. Either way, I think the stories worth telling all happen away from home. First though, I’ll catch up on a little Roanoke business. First off, my move is complete. My stuff is in the house in Salem where Sarah and Billy and Camellia live. I haven’t set up my room at all and have only slept there on the floor or sofa, but I feel like a roommate now because I managed to break something. I was trying to get a table out of my room in a really convoluted manner and managed to crash a big glass light dome thingy down on top of Sarah and myself. Dumber still is that I also managed to somehow leave the table behind at the Jefferson Center on Friday.

We had a couple shows in Roanoke this week, and both were kind of weird. We played Awful Arthurs downtown on Thursday, and the Illbotz did their acoustic thing up front of us. It was such a weird place to play, and I think everyone there hated it, aside from our friends. I played drums on a couple Illbotz songs, and I feel like our set flowed really well. Next was the Jefferson Center on Friday. I was really stoked for it, cause they never let a local play a weekend, but I ended up sorely disappointed by the turnout. I push really hard for us to play all ages shows, and the kids always grunt and moan when we only do 21+ shows, but if they don’t come when we actually talk a venue into letting us use their space we don’t get asked back. We have another all ages show in Roanoke this month but it’s $8 and we aren’t making any money from it (each band gets $1 per person) so that’s not a room I’d feel good about using again anytime soon. The Jefferson Center was a really sweet opportunity, and I’m pretty bummed on the kids for not showing up. We did better the last time we played there, which was a Wednesday. Anyway, whine whine whine.

So we’re on tour again. Did I mention that? Last night we played with Tim in Philly, opening for BoySetsFire. It was their last show ever, and there were 1200 people there. It was kind of a weird vibe, and it felt strange being on the bill. The show had already sold out before we were added, so nobody that was there came to see us. I almost sort of felt like I was intruding on something. The crowd responded well though, so hopefully we got our point across. I was worried a little about stagefright, but it really wasn’t bad at all once we got up there. It definitely didn’t look like 1200 people. We got to stand on the stage while BSF played their final set, which is ridiculous and amazing. I’m one of 50 people in the world that can say that, and whether or not it matters, it means something to me – it’s definitely something I’ll never forget.

I got really drunk last night and tried to yell at people in shortie shorts from the van after the show, but luckily the others kept me in my seat. We didn’t want to pay for a hotel but didn’t know anyone in Philly, so we all just slept in the van. Today we’re in Richmond, playing the most inclusive show ever – because it was set up by one band, and we’re staying with another, borrowing a PA from yet another, and playing with two different ones. Silly.

Also, somehow I managed to lose a show already. Luckily, we were driving right past Potomac Mills so I stopped at Nordstrom Rack and got some new Diesels. Hot and happening.

Ok. Time to socialize. Byee.

…With BitTorrent. I’d always known it was awesome for downloading software, but I had no clue of it’s general level of television awesome. I’ve downloaded the entire series of Studio 60 today, and earlier this week I got completely caught up on my fights. I’ll totally be fine without cable. Phew.