And before that...

So... wow. Been a while, huh? Mmmm.. ok so my new job, the site I'm working on, it launched. Go look.

I'm pretty a) excited about my job b) happy with how the site's looking and how much we got done in a really short period of time-- there are only 4 of us working on it, and y'all KNOW i just moved out here... and we started from scratch. But see, that all sounds like a disclaimer, and it's not. I think our shit's pretty tight. Yeah.

So in other news: i live close to the world's BEST video store, mondo video a go-go in los feliz. It is unconscionable. It is a dream come true. Tonight i was in there renting some research (love my new job. love it.) and i stumbled across a Kids of Widney High tape. Like, just sitting there, like "rent me!" That doesn't happen anywhere else I can think of. But I just want to say, I started watching it, and... maybe I'm getting old in my old age, or soft in the tushy, or weak in the gutty gut, but I had to turn it off. It didn't feel right, and as I was watching it I found myself feeling only excitement for those kids getting up there and having some fun and putting on their "Rockin Santa" pageant. I mean i was never like 'HAHA TARDS ARE FUH-KNEE!" (and if you're going to call me out on that Disney's Hunchback stuff... that is SO not about tards. That is about Disney. For real.) but i did get a kick out of some widney high songs my friends had played me. Maybe the difference was the video, and seeing the kids so into what they were doing, and trying so hard... But also I think I might not be mean anymore. I'm gonna have to look into that, read me some of my Goad and see how I feel. It's an interesting turn of events, regardless.

Yeah so.. LA sure is warm. It's late rocktober and I think someone forgot to tell them.

Hey know what rules? I had all these boxes and packing quilty paper and foam peanuts from the move, and recycling them was going to be a bitch, and I felt horrible throwing it all away, so I placed an ad in the recycler (recycler.com) and yay, someone who needed them came and got them. It was that easy. I like people. You should try it.

Oh and hey: a while ago (wow... a WHILE ago, man i'm getting old) I went to Japan with my parents and sister, and I remember going clothes shopping and being like "man! fucking japanese! they take all the good thrift and take it over here to their crazy islands and they sell it at crazy prices and we in the united states of america are left with nothing in our thrift stores, no Finds to be had, only crap. Crap crap crap! WHAT GOOD IS IT TO BE AMERICAN IF THE JAPANESE ARE GOING TO STEAL ALL THE GOOD THRIFT? Fie, FIE on the japanese." But I would like to take that back now and say: it is not the japanese, it is the californians. And the japanese must just be getting it all from california. The flea markets here are nuts... like to the point where it's almost not even fun, cause there's no challenge in it whatsoever. Clothes, old adidas, turquoise pyrex... you don't even have to try, it's just sitting out there in the sunshine. Sure, parking's a bitch, but still: I weep for the ebay-dependent. And while i should really Fie, FIE on the californians.. see the problem is i live here now so.... it's ok with me.

Hey you should still vote for Nader, incidentally. I hope you've already heard this argument but just in case: unless you are in a highly contested state where the election could go either way (and that's down to like 6 states now, if that), voting for Gore is not going to do anyone, even Gore, any good. Our system of electoral voting (which... is kinda bullshit, but I guess we'll have to wait until a candidate loses the electoral but wins the popular vote so we can have a big riot and rethink this whole thing. Oh also, i just learned the other day that the so-called landslide electoral victory for Reagan back in the day was actually much much closer in popular vote. Still, he did win.) makes it so. Before, i lived in virginia, and Bush is going to take that state, so I was free to vote for nader without "spoiling" the election. Now I live in California, where it's closer, but Gore is still polling consistently ahead with a decent margin. So again, I am free to vote for Nader with a clear conscience. And so are you.

I listened to a broadcast of one of his super rallies the other day, and it was quite literally uplifting. I haven't felt that way about anyone's candidacy... ever. Every speaker spoke directly to my beliefs and hopes and it really made me excited to get to cast that ballot. We already talked about how much i love voting right? Well i hope you try it this year if you don't normally.. most voter registration deadlines are past but you know... if you're not registered, double check cause in some states you can register right at the polls. But yeah, voting is a gas, for real. And I hope that if you're registered you're going to vote. And i hope you vote for Nader. Voting rules, and I would bet that the vast majority of people who are "conscientious nonvoters" could get behind Nader's platform, and those people have absolutely no excuse this election. You're not proving anything to anyone by abstaining... no one knows who you are or why you're abstaining. And they tend to assume it's because you're lazy and/or don't care. And you know what? I assume that too. Cause there is ALWAYS a write-in. You can always at least show the fuck up and write-in a 'none of the above' candidate. Please think about it, cause it's pretty important.

OH YEAH ALSO: if the nice german friend who wrote to me about the fact that mcdonald's is still doing mcchink as recently as 1999 is still reading.. PLEASE WRITE ME, i lost your address in the move.