Let’s just say I had a lot to learn about painting the bald French goat.

Vultures Like Lovers - Wild Nothing
The new improved hypocrisy - The Radio Dept.
In Love, Not Limbo - Of Oceans
Coma Summer - Weekend
Freak Train (Kurt Vile) - Atlas Sound
Chinatown - Destroyer
Sweet Disposition (Claptrap Remix) - The Temper Trap
All Around and Away We Go - Twin Sister

The Dark Knight Rises Way Earlier Than That Other One And Also More Cheaply And In Toronto, rebooting into a theater near you.

Golden Haze - Wild Nothing
Kisses (Electric Sunset Remix) - Kisses
Take Me Over - Cut Copy
Get It Get It - Girl Talk
ACheerleader - Bikini
Hell of a Life - Kanye West
Sleep Paralysist (Com Truise 'Eyelid' Remix) - Neon Indian
Vesuvius - Sufjan Stevens

your bassoon is locked in my basement ... with the gimp

Chinatown - Wild Nothing
If You Want It - TV Girl
Every Day - Girl Talk
Pop Song - Baths
American Mourning - Bikini
Solitude Is Bliss (Canyons Remix) - Tame Impala
Seeds (Portable aka Bodycode Remix) - The Knife
let them - jj

Highway To Distraction

Crazy For You - Best Coast
Heart In Your Heartbreak - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Mirando - Ratatat
Drifter - Wild Nothing
Hannibal - Caribou
Meet Me in the Basement - Broken Social Scene
Little Secrets (Hey Champ Remix) - Passion Pit
Rome (Neighbours and Devendra Banhart Remix) - Phoenix

Like candy

ÿþPap Smear - !ÿþCrystal Castles
Round & Round (Little Loud remix) - Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
The Merry Barracks - Deerhoof
Heartbeat - Annie
Stay Alive - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Lucidity (Pilooski Remix) - Tame Impala
Get Up - Washed Out
Leave House (Motor City Drum Ensemble Remix) - Caribou

If you will live in Seattle

Runaway (Feat. Pusha T.) - Kanye West
Dancing On My Own - Robyn
Something Else - Diamond Rings
Sun (Midland Re-Edit) - Caribou
Norway (Skinny Friedman Edit) - Beach House
Love is All - The Tallest Man On Earth
Date of Birth - How to Dress Well
Billie Holiday - Warpaint

I'm going backwards through time at the speed of light

Indestructible - Robyn
Get Some - Lykke Li
Heartbreaker - Girls
Not In Love (ft Robert Smith) - Crystal Castles
Bees - Warpaint
Strange Lights - Deerhunter
Congratulations (Erol Alkan Rework) - MGMT
Freak Out - Tapes 'n Tapes

♫♥♫ ♫♥♫♫♥♫ ♫♥♫♫♥♫ ♫♥♫♫♥♫ ♫♥♫♫♥♫ ♫♥♫♫♥♫ ♫♥♫♫♥♫ ♫♥♫♫♥♫ ♫♥♫

King Night - Salem
Whip My Hair - Willow Smith
When We're Dancing - Twin Shadow
Daily Routine (Phaseone Remix) - Animal Collective
Desire Lines - Deerhunter
Undertow (Edit) - Warpaint
i'd have it just the way we were - White Denim
Eat That up, It's Good for You - Two Door Cinema Club

The marathon training continues

So the marathon is over, I did crappy. I don't want to write about my downfall at the marathon right now. I'm going to continue running, I can see right now how people become obsessed with their times. If it keeps me running, and it keeps me healthy, then that's the important thing. I didn't run at all last week - you're supposed to take a week off after a marathon. The following is a 4 week post-marathon training schedule by Hal Higdon:

Post Marathon Training: Intermediate
Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	Cross 30 min	3 m run	3 x mile (mar pace)	3 m run	Rest	Tempo 30 min	45-75 min
2	Cross 30-40 min	4 m run	3 x mile (10-K pace)	4 m run	Rest	Tempo 35 min	60-90 min
3	Cross 30-50 min	5 m run	3 x mile (5-K pace)	5 m run	Rest	Tempo 40 min	90 min
4	Cross 30-60 min	5 m run	Tempo 30 min	3 m run	2 m run	Rest	Race

A couple of resolutions from now on:

-I need a Garmin, I think K. will be buying me one for Christmas. I can't do speed training or tempo runs without a Garmin, I need to be able to guage my pace and heart rate if I want to improve my time

-no more slacking off, that means I don't do my cool down walk until after I run my scheduled distance (not what I had been doing, which is walking the last half mile or mile to cool down after a long run)

-no more walking during lunch to make up for mileage when I am pressed for time, if I'm training for a running event then I need to run

-I need to lose 10 pounds - I can probably shave a half hour or more off my time just by getting down to my goal weight. It should be easier to diet now that my body is used to running long distances all the time as I won't be so ravenously hungry, hopefully.

-Weight training/situps and pushups are my cross training. I need to read up on a good weight training schedule for runners.

-I need to stretch properly, I need to read up on proper stretching exercises and techniques. No more winging it.

Here if you want me

He Would Have Laughed - Deerhunter
Lucky 1 - Avey Tare
Life Prowler - No Age
Hall - Baths
Christian Dior Denim Flow (feat. Kid Cudi, Pusha T, John Legend, Lloyd Banks & Ryan Leslie) - Kanye West
So Bored - Wavves
Drunk Girls - Holy Ghost! Remix - LCD Soundsystem
Take It On - How to Dress Well

Lost in this plastic life

Ready For The World - How to Dress Well
Lost In The World (No Tags) - Kanye West Feat. Bon Iver
our get - White Denim
Fade to White (Feat. Emily Reo) - Blackbird Blackbird
Helicopter (Diplo & Lunice mix) - Deerhunter
Heart is Strange (Active Child Remix) - School Of Seven Bells
Bombay - El Guincho
Who Knows Who Cares - Local Natives

View from my run

I got up to run in time to watch the sunrise for a change, here's a few pics of what I saw running on the lake today.

Come to the dark side, we have cookies.

Freak Love - Toro Y Moi
Helicopter - Deerhunter
Bluish - Animal Collective
03 I Cant Wait - Twin Shadow
Fifth Ave - Gold Panda
Heavenward Grand Prix - Japandroids
Long Distance Call (25 Hours A Day Remix) - Phoenix
Little People (Black City) - Matthew Dear

Quickly

I did 20 miles on Sunday, which would be the second time I've run that distance. I was completely exhausted the rest of the day but I did it around 2:55. I'm glad I've entered the 3 week taper until the marathon on 10/10. I'm glad the marathon is coming up, I've been training for/anticipating/dreading it for so long. It was a really fun running on Sunday - all the marathon runners were out, I ran for a stretch with a nice group of people who invited me to join their running group, which I may look into after the race.

A lot of stuff has happened - M's party, L. and N. were there, I haven't seen those guys in like 5 years. I said to K. it was like they were trying to hold a wild college party, except they're over 40. C's party on Sunday, which was a baby shower for J. and V., was pretty fun, everyone got a kick out of Nina. Mom in law was in town, which helped a lot as I didn't have to look after Nina while I studied for my exams and did my songwriting homework. I haven't written in a while - a lot of stuff like this has gone down, I just haven't had time to write about it.

Marriage is going fine, there's a lot of love between us, and the baby just adds even more love. I've been studying for the scjp and it's going very slowly, I may need another month which is not good because I thought I'd be done by the end of this month. Have been going to 'career coaching', the lady is very nice, I may not have to go back until I've finished a few certification exams.

My big thing these days is songwriting class. I feel bad because we had a small class to begin with and everyone else dropped out so now it's just me and the teacher. She's a great teacher, I feel bad that it's just me, I'm sure that has to be a little disappointing as a teacher - or maybe not. So I feel obligated to show up every week and do all my assignments - it's difficult because this is a really busy time for me, I have to carve out time to do this stuff, I guess it will always be a really busy time for me, as long as I care about stuff like my career and spending time with my family. Anyways, she had me start a written journal for lyric writing, brainstorming musical arrangements, freeform writing, etc. Stuff that doesn't belong on this blog as I see this blog as mainly for autobiographical writing. Mom's leaving for Israel and Venice today, we're going to hang out at her house tonight to see her off.

Covers

7 elliott smith covers
between the bars
angeles
son of sam
thirteen
alameda
independence day
tomorrow tomorrow

14 nick drake covers
pink moon
place to be
things behind the sun
parasite
road
fruit tree
clothes of sand
things behind the sun
which will
harvest breed
day is done
from the morning
three hours
hazy jane i

5 miscelleneous blues and folk covers
been smoking too long
black mountain
if you leave me pretty mama
my baby so sweet
blues run the game

I didn't notice

I didn't notice at first but she had the most piercing laugh. Not that it mattered, because by that point I was totally smitten in the infantile manner in which I used to develop crushes on women in college. It didn't matter that she had a piercing laugh, or a nasally voice, or that she didn't seem very interesting other than she seemed to like generally the same type of music that I did at the time - this was the early 90's so that would be, grunge bands, 'alternative' bands, some indie bands that I namechecked more than I actually listened to. She was very pretty though, in a pale petite exotic way that was appealing to me because I always pictured the girl that I eventually fall in love with to be pale and petite, with long dark hair. I will admit that she had the greatest head of hair I've ever seen on any human being, ever. I also wound up spending junior and senior year in college trying to hook up with women that vaguely resembled her, because I couldn't have her. So I decided I liked this girl, but really I just liked the idea of this girl. Our relationship wasn't anything at all. We went out a few times and talked about life. I didn't really care about her life, and I'm sure I made a terrific impression at the time, as my life was a complete and utter disaster. Practically everything about me was completely destroyed and blown to bits. Family relationships, school career, employment prospects, personal hygiene, substance abuse problems, no money to speak of, no friends, obsessive compulsive disorder, narcissistic personality, severe depression, addiction problems. I could just go on and on. I had dropped out of school and I was not doing much more than daydreaming about sex with her and being a rock star. I don't know what made me think I was qualified to do either of those things, other than I really wanted to badly.

Free Ride

At the end of the block there was a cul de sac that led to a series of dirt lots where new houses were being developed. There was a small lake dug out at the center of the neighborhood being built. Kids I went to school with rode around on new bmx bikes, I remember Randy had an Ashtabula bike, Chris K. had a Redline that I envied the hell out of. I felt ugly and insecure sometimes, sometimes I would look in the mirror and think that I had a handsome face. I always felt fat, even when I was playing a lot of sports and was a skinny kid. I always felt this pressure to stay at home, practice piano, stick the routine of swimming and karate practice, and at the same time maintain straight A's so that I could eventually get into a prestigious college and go to medical school - and at the same time be a 'cool guy'. All the cool guys at my school were stupid good looking kids that were probably smoking by the age of 12. Nowadays kids are fucking and doing heroin by age 10, I'm kind of scared for N. I remember daydreaming about being a famous celebrity - I was always a famous singer, my daydreams played out like music videos in which I was the star. There was always a pretty girl around whom the dramatic action revolved. Sometimes she resembled girls from my life, pretty girls who were just starting to develop breasts and gossip about making out. In some alternate reality right next to mine other boys were already 'going out' with these girls, which amounted to nothing but talking shyly, passing notes, gossip among mutual friends. Maybe kids these days have moved onto S&M and porno shoots, again I shudder for N. My hair was long and greasy and I wore the same pair of ill fitting jeans and red t Adidas t shirt every day, my style was always copied off of kids at my school who I wasn't exactly friends with but knew socially and whom I admired because I thought they were better looking, cooler, more popular and more sexually advanced than me. I used to make an effort to make these kids my friends. And they weren't necessarily 'jock' kids, they were actually borderline burnout kids, kids whose parents had divorced, who in a few years would probably start smoking pot. My parents never approved of my friends, they made an effort to isolate me as much as possible from the people I was friends with. I remember when B. moved to California, it was like I didn't know him anymore. I couldn't even call him when we went out there for vacation. I always had trouble asserting my need to hang out with my friends around my parents, while my brother L. would always bring his friends to the house. He had more wholesome friends than I, kids that would go on to be all state in something or other. I always loved people that were surly, rebellious, alienated to a certain extent, outsiders - but they had to be beautiful people. These were all guys by the way. Women were always a mystery to me, they still are. Even my wife, whom I know better than any woman, cotinues to do things that baffle me. She is the sun that warms my life, brings me happiness, when she wakes up I'm alive.

Give us something to live up to.

Like the Wheel - The Tallest Man On Earth
Blessa - Toro Y Moi
Deadbeat Summer - Neon Indian
Mr Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra
Fifth Ave - Gold Panda
Monster (feat. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Bon Iver & Nicki Minaj) - Kanye West
We Used To Wait - Arcade Fire
Write About Love - Belle & Sebastian

Quote

The deepest definition of youth is life as yet untouched by tragedy.
- Alfred North Whitehead

evoking a memory/ongoing attempt at seduction

You're So Gangsta - Chromeo
Psychic Chasms (Anoraak Remix) - Neon Indian
Slow - Twin Shadow
Faxing Berlin (Grifta Dubstep Remix) - Deadmau5
Airplanes - Local Natives
Aminals - Baths
Heirloom - Sufjan Stevens
Ecstasy With Jojo - How to Dress Well

No matter what age I am, it’s always too old and it’s always too young.

Shelter (Tiga Remix) - The XX
White Moon - Beach House
Hold Out - Washed Out
Seasun (John Talabot's Kids & Drums Remix) - Delorean
Rude Boy (Blondes Rmx feat. Mariah Carey) - Rihanna
I Walked - Sufjan Stevens
Modern Man - Arcade Fire
Walking on a Dream (LAZRtag Remix) - Empire of the Sun

View at 6 miles from home

every childhood dream wrapped up into one

This Space - Röyksopp
Cheaters - Teengirl Fantasy
Glitter - No Age
Night By Night - Chromeo
Camera Talk (Blackbird Blackbird Remix) - Local Natives
Aerodynamix (AlphaBreak Remix) - Daft Punk
Post Acid - Wavves
Golden Haze - Wild Nothing

WHERE IS THE 8TRACKS IPHONE APP???

Ready to Start - Arcade Fire
Everything In Its Right Place (Refracture Remix) - Radiohead
Strobe (Original Mix) - Deadmau5
Make Love (Jeuce rework) - Daft Punk
Last Nite's Lisztomania (DJ Franklyne Mash Up) - Phoenix vs The Strokes
Casual - Here We Go Magic
Hearts On Fire (Aeroplane Pop Remix) - Cut Copy
TAOS - Menomena

If Jesus was Jewish, how come he has a Mexican name?

Lasso - Phoenix
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) - Arcade Fire
Primitive 3D - Deerhunter
While We're Young - Department of Eagles
Some Chords (Original Mix) - Deadmau5
Boyfriend (GHOSTWAVES EDIT) - Best Coast
Forced to Love - Broken Social Scene
Down By The Water - The Drums

Rules for work

Rules for work

1. When you are at work, focus on work during business hours 9-5. No more websu
rfing or youtubing.
2. Use the 2.5 commute to study/work on work.
3. You should work 60 hours a week. That includes 40 hours focused concentratio
n on your paying job at work + 20 hours studying for certifications, upgrading s
kills via additional research, upgrading experience by working on freelancing si
de business.

The night I ate a quarter ounce of mushrooms and lost a friend

(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - Cat Power
Silence Kit - Pavement
Real Love (Narcisse Remix) - Delorean
Tomboy - Panda Bear
Where I'm Going - Cut Copy
Phantom Pt. II - Justice
North American Scum - LCD Soundsystem
Summer - Modest Mouse

The night I ate pig's brains at the tapas restaurant

Idioteque - Amanda Palmer
Revival - Deerhunter
Cause=Time - Broken Social Scene
I Can Change - LCD Soundsystem
Psychic Chasms (Apache Beat Remix) - Neon Indian
Slow Motion - Panda Bear
10 Mile Stereo - Beach House
staring at the sun - TV on the Radio

When I stop dwelling in my own head, the world seems ripe for some living

Younger Us - Japandroids
Gold Soundz - Pavement
6669 (I don't know if you know) - Neon Indian
Phantom - Justice
Breaking It Up (Punks Jump Up Remix) - Lykke Li
Selfish Boy - Caribou
Little Brown Haired Girl - Frankie Rose and the Outs
Boy - Ra Ra Riot

Quote

'If I'm not positive, I think I'll go crazy.'
-Thom Yorke

Mr. Rogers

Some awesome Mr. Rogers stories I've read over the years:

* * *

I worked with a guy who once went with a group of friends to Pittsburgh, where their plans consisted of staying up the entire night, hitting various bars, and drinking until they were slobbering and stupid. The next morning, as they were walking (wobbling) down the street, they happened to come upon a group of people leaving a church service. Mr. Rogers was at the center of that group. My co-worker, forgetting everything in that moment except the unexpected amazement of seeing his childhood hero, shouted "Mr. Rogers!" and ran straight up to him. Imagine the looks of horror on the faces of the other parishioners, confronted by this apparition - wild-eyed, clothes wrinkled and smelling of smoke, skin and breath reeking of alcohol.

Mr. Rogers just reached out and pulled him into a hug. My co-worker started to cry, and Mr. Rogers talked quietly to him. What was said? He never would tell us.

---
Source:
http://www.metafilter.com/79055/Can-you-say-Hero-T ...

* * *

During his acceptance speech for the Daytime Emmys Lifetime Achievement Award, he made his small bow and said into the microphone, "All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. Would you just take, along with me, ten seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are. Ten seconds of silence." And then he lifted his wrist, and looked at the audience, and looked at his watch, and said softly, "I'll watch the time," ...

One second, two seconds, three seconds and now the jaws clenched, and the bosoms heaved, and the mascara ran, and the tears fell upon the beglittered gathering like rain leaking down a crystal chandelier, and Mister Rogers finally looked up from his watch and said, "May God be with you" to all his vanquished children.

---
Source:
http://www.metafilter.com/61699/Neighborhood-of-Ma ...

* * *

And the last one -- long, but worth it:

* * *

You know, it's quite a strange thing. The single most common adjective applied to Mister Rogers in this and other thread is the word 'creepy'?

I think I know why he strikes people as creepy. It's because his isn't at all 'cool'. There is no cynicism, no irony, no condescension in him at all. He is not simply unhip, he is ahip. And this is what people calling him creepy are picking up on.

We are conditioned to traffic in cool. You have to look cool, not look nice or distinguished or presentable, but cool. But it's all so generic. Everyone seems to have the same new haircut that no one 5 years ago had. We all have the same cynical politics.

Something about the counterculture from the 60's is still with us but it has been co-opted into a form of synchronized periodic obsolescence and mockery of that which came before. There is something fundamentally anti-intellectual about this, but I can't quite articulate it. There some element of arrogance there. Like everyone is perpetually 18.

Cool is America's code, and I really do think this is an American problem, because cool is propagated mainly though mass media, and there is no greater media saturated culture on earth than America's. Will I look cool wearing this? Will I sound cool saying this, or reading this or doing this. We're committing mass murder in other parts of the world because somebody figured out how to make violence cool and tough-talk politics cool, and then they combined the too. Swagger is cool. Cowboys and fighter jets and JDAMs and war porn are cool. So that's what we have. We are the Kingdom of Whatever.

Of course he hated ad-libbing on camera, because ad-libbing on camera is inexcusably lazy. It's what you do so you don't have to write or rehearse. Actors and comedians and musicians improvise as a way of living within a moment that is in some way artificial. A method actor may improvise because he is trying to become the character, but he isn't the character to begin with. A Jazz musician improvises because while the structure and the changes are the same, and the audience is familiar with them, the particular moment of performance is not, and that has it's own emotional context.

Mister Rogers was the same guy, so why improvise? The show wasn't about his character, it was about the kids, os you have to work out ahead of time how best to communicate with the child viewers. Everything was planned.

He talks slowly not because kids are dumb but because as studies have shown, children's brains are considerably more active than adults', and they need time to return to the original thought communicated to them after branching off in multitudinous directions.

The puppets? Puppets are good because they are considerably smaller than the human actors around them, and thus kids perceive them as safe. They look like toys. Contrast this with a giant seven foot all yellow bird, and ask yourself which inspired more nightmares.

The show is glacially paced and had the same structure with the same things happening in the same order because children respond to structure and routine is a source of comfort, particularly in children whose lives were anything but predictable.

Maybe that's what cool is - withdrawing from the context of one's life into an artificial one, in which the cool perceives itself to be somehow outside of reality, looking in and commenting on it. But this isn't insight, it's not reflecting on the world. It's standing at the edge of the world sniping into it.

Mister Rogers isn't creepy. CSI with is gruesome bloody corpses every Thursday at promptly 9:14 EST is creepy. Thirty million people looking at that and snaking on chips while they watch is creepy.

Listening to some rapper sing about his genitals and sexual conquests is creepy. Approach crowds of people and talk to them about the aroused state of your genitals, and watch how quickly you end up in a squad car. But somehow it's ok on TV because...why exactly?

Watching a war unfold on television in near real time is beyond creepy. It is obscene. You watch people screaming over their dead loved ones, and then you turn it off and go have dinner, or go to bed? No empathy, no revulsion. What the hell kind of civilization is this?

You know, I watched some 9-11 footage on youtube the other day (because I'm a masochist, apparently), and it occured to me that in the 6 years since it happened, I've never once heard anyone say "I'm sorry for those people who are so consumed by hate for people they've never met and places they've never been. What can we do to lift that burden from them?"

Because that isn't cool. That's being a pussy (or a fag if you are on FreeRepublic). There's no posture to be struck there, no pose. It's something that has to be done in earnest, and that's what's been lacking in the American culture.

Think about the Pope, entering the cell to confront his assassin. He forgave him, we all know that. But can you imagine the conversation? Can you imagine either someone being so perceptive that they can reach into a perfect stranger and expose their soul, or someone whose personality is so shallow that their emotions or ideologies are so shallow that any attempt to probe their depth displaces them entirely?

Mr. Rogers may have been the last earnest man.

New 18 week marathon training plan

I'm switching my plan yet again to Hal Higdon's Intermediate I Marathon training plan.

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	cross	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	rest	5 m pace	8
2	cross	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	rest	5 m run	9
3	cross	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	rest	5 m pace	6
4	cross	3 m run	6 m run	3 m run	rest	6 m pace	11
5	cross	3 m run	6 m run	3 m run	rest	6 m run	12
6	cross	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	rest	6 m pace	9
7	cross	4 m run	7 m run	4 m run	rest	7 m pace	14
8	cross	4 m run	7 m run	4 m run	rest	7 m run	15
9	cross	4 m run	5 m run	4 m run	rest	7 m pace	11
10	cross	4 m run	8 m run	4 m run	rest	8 m pace	17
11	cross	5 m run	8 m run	5 m run	rest	8 m run	18
12	cross	5 m run	5 m run	5 m run	rest	8 m pace	13
13	cross	5 m run	8 m run	5 m run	rest	5 m pace	20
14	cross	5 m run	5 m run	5 m run	rest	8 m run	12
15	cross	5 m run	8 m run	5 m run	rest	5 m pace	20
16	cross	5 m run	6 m run	5 m run	rest	4 m pace	12
17	cross	4 m run	5 m run	4 m run	rest	3 m run	8
18	cross	3 m run	4 m run	rest	rest	2 m run	race

Switching marathon training programs

I'm switching my training program to Hal Higdon's Novice 18 week marathon training program:

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	rest	3 m run	5 m pace	3 m run	rest	8	cross
2	rest	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	rest	9	cross
3	rest	3 m run	5 m pace	3 m run	rest	6	cross
4	rest	3 m run	6 m pace	3 m run	rest	11	cross
5	rest	3 m run	6 m run	3 m run	rest	12	cross
6	rest	3 m run	6 m pace	3 m run	rest	9	cross
7	rest	4 m run	7 m pace	4 m run	rest	14	cross
8	rest	4 m run	7 m run	4 m run	rest	15	cross
9	rest	4 m run	7 m pace	4 m run	rest	11	cross
10	rest	4 m run	8 m pace	4 m run	rest	17	cross
11	rest	5 m run	8 m run	5 m run	rest	18	cross
12	rest	5 m run	8 m pace	5 m run	rest	13	cross
13	rest	5 m run	5 m pace	5 m run	rest	19	cross
14	rest	5 m run	8 m run	5 m run	rest	12	cross
15	rest	5 m run	5 m pace	5 m run	rest	20	cross
16	rest	5 m run	4 m pace	5 m run	rest	12	cross
17	rest	4 m run	3 m run	4 m run	rest	8	cross
18	rest	3 m run	2 m run	rest	rest	2 m run

Hal's the Author of Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide, which I'm reading. His site is very informative.

you have to do stuff that average people don't understand, because those are the only good things --Andy Warhol

Waters of Nazareth - Justice
TEQUILLA RLC STRATO REMIX 16 BIT - M.I.A
Windstorm - School Of Seven Bells
Conversation 16 - The National
White Magic - ceo
When the World Comes to an End - Dirty Projectors and Bjork
Maximalist - Baths
Say No To Love - Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, the

I know it's a lie, I want it to be true

everything is gonna be alright - ceo
Too Young - Phoenix
Pap Smear - Crystal Castles
Collect Call - Metric
Back To Cali Gurls (Katy Perry Remix) - Notorious B.I.G
King Of The Beach - Wavves
One (Build & Clancy Remix) - Yeasayer
Gallery Piece Stems (Minitel - Of Montreal vs Minitel Rose

We consume the affected martyrdom of our purported idols and spit it back in mocking defiance.

Swoon (Boys Noize Summer Mix) - Chemical Brothers
Don't Turn The Lights On - Chromeo
Girlfriend - Phoenix
Paris (Aeroplane Remix) - Friendly Fires ft. Au Revoir Simone
The Reeling - Passion Pit
Mandy - Ratatat
Honey Trap (Le Matos remix) - We Have Band
Summertime Clothes - Animal Collective

Everythings easy when you never have to choose

Armistice - Phoenix
Get Innocuous! - LCD Soundsystem
Here Sometimes - Blonde Redhead
Hold On (feat. Amber Coffman) (Sub Focus Remix) - Rusko
Coquet Coquette - of Montreal
Folds In Your Hands - Passion Pit
Expectation - Tame Impala
We Don't Want Your Body - Stars

Quote

Youth is something to be reckoned with, despite how often it's overplayed. We forget how young so many geniuses were when they made their mark. In 1905, when Einstein's annus mirabilis began, he was 25. One of my favorite things to do when a friend turns 30 is to say, "Well, you're now older than every member of the Beatles when they broke up." The implication being, "Remember what they did with their young adulthood? What the hell have you done with yours?"

When you're a kid, every time you have an idea, you think you're the first person in history to think it. There's serious power in this misconception. When you feel like all your thoughts are original, you burn to share them with the world. And then, it turns out, people with talent sometimes do have something unique and valuable to offer. And the fearlessness engendered by the cockiness that comes from youthful ignorance is what gets their ideas out there. That's how you get your Bob Dylans (he turned 25 a week after Blonde on Blonde came out). You get the feeling that maybe Jay-Z knows the "truth" that it's all been said. It may well be true, but it weighs down his art like an anchor. Meanwhile, Lil Wayne burns on.

- Mark Richardson, Resonant Frequency #50

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Pitchfork: Okay, you're old. How do you think your age informs your music?

JM: I think it's a huge part of it. I've kind of been thinking about this a lot lately. Because for a while I was really angry. ‘Cause I was like, "What the fuck? We should suck. We should be being wiped off the stage by kids every night." I just didn't get it. I spent years saying that and being kind of wound up. Like, where the fuck are the kids? Then I started thinking that energy that used to be kids-- early rock and then punk, what was really going on was that there was no marketing to kids.

If you made advertisements, you made them to 40- or 50-year-olds. Because they had money, they had jobs. You didn't advertise to kids. The only thing that was targeted to kids was like, funny hair products and rock'n'roll. So you had this one thing to navigate, and that was where all your energy was.

But now kids buy shit. They really buy shit. Kids buy designer stuff. So you're being constantly pounded by marketing. And if you want to be a rebel, well, there's rebel clothing companies. There's rebel stick-on tattoos. You can get a rebel skateboard. You just pick your rebel mode and there's a whole online shopping network that you can be a part of. So kids may look punk or feel punk, but what they're kind of doing is the same as like, being really swept up in high school sports or something.

o I just think it takes a couple decades to kind of clear your brain now. So it makes more sense to me that I could find my footing when I was 30 instead of when I was 19. It seems a little more clear. You know, novelists are older now. Things are happening later in people's lives. They're kind of living lives and then creating things about the lives they've lived. Rather than being an artiste at an early age and coming out with a ball of fire. That energy has been co-opted because you haven't immunized yourself yet against media. It's easier to get swept up things then take a couple of years to get over your, like, indie rock hangover. I'm scraping the fucking Quarterstick Records crust out of my eyes when I'm like, 27. You know, "Why am I playing in 5/7? How is that fun?"

Pitchfork: Do you feel like it's an advantage in any way? Just being able to draw on much more life experience than someone younger?

JM: I think it's an advantage to a certain degree because of that. But on the other hand, I get tired. And I get sick on tour. And I want to go home. You're also part of a machine that's set up to really whip your teenage ego into a frenzy. On the one hand, that's awesome, because you're kind of immune to it. But on the other hand it's not as much fun. It's like being an adult at an amusement park designed for kids. I'm like, "I can't fit on any of these rides."

-James Murphy

Notes from vacation in Cancun

We leave for Cancun at 5 in the morning, I'm still half awake at the airport and fall asleep on the three hour plane ride with the baby squirming in my lap. We arrive in Cancun in the middle of a thunderstorm, which is due to tropical storm Alex happening somewhere to the east of us, I think. we check in and take a cab ride to our timeshare, my brothers and I immediately start drinking. My cousin and uncle and cousin's girlfriend arrive later that night. We drink some more at the hotel bar - I keep calling it a hotel but it's a timeshare, because it reminds me of a luxury hotel.

The second day it's still tropical storm weather, overcast but humid and hot as hell. I go running on the beach in 'aqua socks'. The sky looks bad ass. Hardly any people on the beach. Later we go out to eat at one of the many Mexican restaurants here. There are no small portions here, everythng is huge. The margaritas are as big as your head. It is like this for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I came here 10 pounds overweight because I've been lazy about dieting and working out lately. I feel fat and bloated all day long, and will probably leave here another 10 pounds heavier. I've had body image problems my entire life, this experience isn't helping. I can't believe I've been training for a marathon for a year and a half and I still feel fat in my swim suit. I go swimming in my sports watch and discover that it is water resistant and not 'water proof'. I've gone through 3 sports watches this year.

K. gets mad when I go out drinking with my brothers, I understand. It's hard to take care of the baby alone, especially since she's pregnant and it's really hot out. I come home late and crawl into bed reeking of alcohol and cigarettes. Baby gets us up at 4 in the morning, she jumps up and immeediately wants to play. I cam hear her tugging at me at the side of the bed saying 'Daddy, get up!'. K. usually get sup early with her and keeps her company on the deck while everybody else sleeps. Our balcony overlooks the pool and the ocean. On the third day, the sun comes out.

You can't buy gum in Cancun? Whats up with that. Also CNN World news sucks. Glen Beck sucks. We only brought a couple dvds with us - N. plays Alvin and the Chipmunks all morning (The Squesakquel, not the first one) - by the end of the week we all know the movie by heart. Since the weather is out we lounge by the pool. The pool is the greatest invention I've seen in a long while - imagine a huge bar in the middle of the pool - people sit in bar stools in the water and order drinks and food. Everything is charged to our card, at the end of the trip we'll get hit with a huge bill.

We've been watching movies on my laptop before we fall asleep, I've been dozing off with my contacts in. K. tells me that my eye will get infected. One day last week I wake up and my eye is in fact infected - it's puffed up and red and itchy, and there's pus coming out of it. I take my contacts out and haven't worn them in almost two weeks while my eye heals up. I'm on vacation anyway, not much need for me to do some close reading. As a consequence, I sit by the pool and admire the bikini bodies - since I'm basically blind, I have no way of knowing if I'm admiring a 25 year old woman or a 12 year old girl. I also can't see faces, so everyone is beautiful.

K. and I get a couples massage at the spa, it wasn't the best massage I've ever had but K. enjoyed it. I go running - walking sometimes - on the beach and curse my bloated body. There are plenty of hot women here. Maybe my body is fine and my body image is just so distorted that I'm blowing the situation way out of proportion - like when you see an anorexic girl and she's like, 'I'm so fat'. Tuesday nigth we take a cab out to the middle of downtown Cancun, to this restaurant where they have guys juggling fire and balancing like 5 margaritas on thei rheads. Nobody believes in air conditioning out here, I feel bloated and miserable a lot of the time. N. is having a great time, so is her grandma. That's fine I guess, how I'm feeling is not important.

I take a couple of hours out in the middle of the week and check my email and take care of something that broke at work. The internet is very spotty out here - I have to sit in a certain area of the main lobby in order to get even a decent signal. At the beginning of the week I think about my job a lot. By Friday I feel much more relaxed, I still think about my career but more in an abstract sense, making plans to take certification exams next month. I still feel basically hopeful about most things, including my career. Despite all my self doubts and all the mistakes I've made in the past, I feel confident in my abilities and in the future. My wife and family have changed me.

One night my brothers and cousins take a cab into the downtown area and go out to the local clubs. I want to go but K. is very sick so I stay in to keep her company. In the morning they show me cell phone videos they take while out at the clubs - picure after picture of half naked go go dancers on tables and stripper looking girls pouring drinks down my brother's throats. I'm filled with intense jealousy.

My brother and I remix each others songs in Ableton. My brother does mash ups of old 70s disco songs, they sound pretty good actually. I come up with parts of original songs. On Thurs., my wife and I take a tour of some Mayan ruins and I think about music the entire time. I spend a lot of my free time working in Ableton with my headphones on, my wife gets annoyed by this. Last night we went to this lobster restaurant, I had a ton of drinks and a vanilla mousse for dessert with strawberries. The restaurant has a deck overlooking a lagoon and we wave to alligators as they swim around us.

We woke up late today. We went swimming in the pool with N. all day. My baby is by far the most beautiful creature at the pool, on the beach, in this general vicinity. And I'm not just saying that because I'm totally biased. She charms people whereever she goes, everybody compliments us on our gorgeous little girl. It will probably always be like this for her. We watch Astroboy on DVD and I wonder why it's 2010 and we don't have fighting robots. Tomorrow we fly home and we go back to our regular lives. I kind of miss my neighborhood in Chicago, with its Midwestern trees and Midwestern parks filled with Chicago people, that's not so humid. Looking forward to getting back to work and back to training for the upcoming race. I guess that means it was a successful vacation.

Notes from work conference in Raleigh, NC

We left for NC really early on Sunday morning, caught a taxi to O'Hare then a red eye flight with N. on our laps. One thing I didn't realize about the South was that everything basically shuts down on Sunday. The hotel is beautiful, probably the nicest hotel I've stayed in for a work conference so far. Downtown Raleigh is also really nice - but it's small, compared to Chicago, and it seems a lot less populated than the equivalent part of Chicago, The Loop. One other thing - the Miss NC Pageant is here (was here?) so a lot of young girls wearing dresses and heels and lots of makeup, and a lot of what look like 'pageant mom's running around. N. has been running around and playing on the furniture whereever she goes, everybody seems to love her.

K. is really happy (I'm really happy). A friend of hers told her about a job opening up in another part of the city - some guy she used to go drinking with is now a principal and he told her to submit her resume for a teaching position he has open. So she sent him her resume and they set up an interview for when we get back from vacation. It's looking pretty good, more news on that later on I guess.

I've been getting up really early and running 6 miles around Raleigh before everyone wakes up. They also have towel service and a really nice exercise room at the hotel. Raleigh is really clean city, I have been sticking to one boring running route though as I don't want to end up in the bad part of town.

The conference is fairly boring, there's a lot of marketing presentations that I don't need to be at. And most of the technical talks seem like rehash to me, as I'm fairly advanced at what I do. My boss and one of my colleagues is here. I've been a hermit in terms of the conference though. When not at presentations I typically go back to our room and hang out with K. and N. They've been sleeping a lot, we all seem to be really tired lately, maybe it's jetlag. They've also been swimming at the pool here, which is really nice, and today I think they're going to the Children's Museum, which is only a few blocks away.

It's hot out, really hot. We go walking around the city when we have an opportunity, and we try out different restaurants. So far we've gone to some pretty sweet restaurants. I had an awesome veggie reuben for lunch yesterday, and citrus gazpacho soup. I could live here, I don't need to be living in a huge bustling metropolis. K. says it's too hot and the southern accents would get on her nerves. I also like how polite everyone seems to be. Oh yeah, physically I'm miserable - I keep falling asleep with my contacts in as I'm always so tired lately - and I think my left eye might be getting a little infected. So today I'm not wearing contacts as I don't want it to get worse, and hence I can't read any of the slide presentations at the conference.

It's like going up to heaven, then coming back alive

I encounter another challenge in life. My wife is a Chicago public school teacher and she just found out she is going to be one of the thousands of cps teachers laid off this year due to budget cuts.
Rage. I don't want to get into how corrupt the government is right now. I imagine there are families across the city are experiencing the same financial worries to varying degrees. A lot of K's colleagues who are laid off are not married but have kids to support, I can only imagine what they're going through. I will say one thing and that's why must government balance the budget on the backs of hardworking people and innocent children while corruption is allowed to continue in all levels of government? They couldn't cancel a couple sweetheart construction deals to save a few teachers? Apparently it's also not so rosy for the teachers who were not cut as they will be forced to take pay cuts, furlough days, pension cuts, and skyrocketing class sizes.
I told K. maybe she should think about getting out of the business altogether, who knows if she'll follow through with it.
Raining hard today as I stare out the window on a train bound for home. I have to run a lot this week - I'll probably wind up running in the rain tonight. Work has been challenging but I feel like I've been holding my own. Pretty good performance review. Missed j's BBQ last weekend due to in laws being in town, I sort of regret that. Worried about money and how well manage now that I'm the only breadwinner. To think 50 years ago it was the norm that only the husband worked, now both parents usually work because it's just that difficult to make ends meet.
Now would be the time for me to step up and get a way better job that pays a lot - tell my wife she doesn't need to work If he doesn't want to. I feel daunted by that notion, I feel like me switching jobs is at least a year out.
In other news I feel fat because I've been eating out a lot. Looking forward to two weeks out of town starting next week - first a work trip to n. Carolina next week, then a week in cancun.
Have been playing around in ableton a lot, so far I have not produced anything I feel is good enough to show people.

Summer '10, let the fun begin.

Brothers On A Hotel Bed (Bachelors Of Science Remix) - Death Cab For Cutie
Welt Am Draht (Animal Collective Remix) - Pantha Du Prince
Ten Cent Pistol - The Black Keys
Neckbrace - Ratatat
You and I - Washed Out feat. Caroline Polachek
Suffocation (Memory Tapes Remix) - Crystal Castles
1901 (acoustic) - Phoenix
What Else Is There - Royksopp

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The people you love become ghosts inside of you and like this you keep them alive.

-someone

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The real purpose of running isn't to win a race; it's to test the limits of the human heart.

Bill Bowerman

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For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the beset of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.
-Benjamin Button, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

If I was a stripper, this would be my song

Help, Im Alive (The Twelves Remix) - Metric
Come With Me - ceo
Maps (Elite Force Re-Fix) - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
My Love (Diplo Mix) - LCD Soundsystem vs. Justin Timberlake
Smash Your Head - Girl Talk
Power - Kanye West
Sleigh Bells - Run The Heart (Bassnectar Remix) - Sleigh Bells
The Suburbs - Arcade Fire

Quick post

Really bad weekend, had to take care of an emergency work situation. We had K's parents over too, so I didn't get a chance to spend a lot of time with them. While they were here I did manage to go out on a 'date' with my wife for once. We went out to a nice Italian restaurant and saw a movie at the Davis Theater. Feel tired, stayed up late finishing stuff up. N's teething again, she seems like she's in a lot of pain, poor baby. Can't write much today as I have some potentially hardcore meetings this morning. I feel confident that I can handle whatever problems I'm presented with.

We should always know that we can do anything.

Terminally Chill - Neon Indian
Go Do - Jónsi
(This Is) The Dream Of Evan and Chan - Dntel
Celestica (Alcala Remix) - Crystal Castles
Talamak - Toro Y Moi
tribulations - LCD Soundsystem
In For The Kill - La Roux
This Orient (Astronomer Dub) - Foals

Yeah, if you were born rich enough to pretend you're poor

All to All - Broken Social Scene
Real Love - Delorean
Galang - M.I.A.
Turn It Off - Phantogram
A/B Machines - Sleigh Bells
Low Shoulder - Toro Y Moi
Face To Face On High Places (Jesu Remix) - School Of Seven Bells
LCD Soundsystem - One Touch - LCD Soundsystem

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One thing I know is that the first things you do with any new medium are worth keeping. You may later on down the line become such an expert in Abelton that you feel your early recordings are very amateur but other people will not. I have a theory. If you look at the first three movies of any actor you pretty much get the feel for them. Of couse there are exceptions. But the same for albums and musicians. And sometimes the early work is the best. More raw primitive etc. Whatever. And even your own conceptions perceptions will sometimes limit you so you are more free at the beginning

-CMP

Your hatred will make me famous

Final Offer - Styrofoam
Tell 'Em (Rodway Remix) - Sleigh Bells
Yulia - Wolf Parade
Tenderoni (XXXChange Dub) - Kele
OMG(Vindata Remix) - Usher ft. Will.I.Am
2080 - Yeasayer
Half Asleep - School Of Seven Bells
Home (RAC Mix) - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

I often bust out with the random dance moves

These Are My Twisted Words - Radiohead
Courtship Dating - Crystal Castles
Deli - Delorean
Ring Ring - Sleigh Bells
Do The Astral Plane - Flying Lotus
Blood On Our Hands (Justice Remix - Death From Above 1979
Whirring - The Joy Formidable
Rome - Yeasayer

The evolution of a revolution

Superfast Jellyfish (Don Diablo Remix) - Gorillaz
Tighten Up - The Black Keys
Stick to My Side (Four Tet Version) - Pantha du Prince
Year's Not Long - Male Bonding
Run the Heart - Sleigh Bells
XXXO - M.I.A.
Sun (Short Bloom Remix) - Caribou
Soft Shock - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

I know all the words to these songs

A More Perfect Union - Titus Andronicus
Drugs - Ratatat
Kaili - Caribou
Grow - Delorean
Vietnam (LightsoverLA Remix) - Crystal Castles
Something Good Can Work (THE TWELVES remix) - TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB
Sweetest Kill - Broken Social Scene
Regenerate - Booka Shade

Mismatched, yet strangely adorable

World Sick - Broken Social Scene
Delorean - Big Weekend - Lemonade
Heaven's On Fire - The Radio Dept.
Walk In The Park - Beach House
Wildcat - Ratatat
What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had To Go This Way) - Wolf Parade
Fences (Def Starr Version) - Phoenix
Lady Daydream - Twin Sister