I’ve had the fortune of seeing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons performed in Benaroya’s epic S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium.

On October 29, I’ll have the fortune of seeing motherfucking Joanna Newsom perform with a 29-piece orchestra there.

Uh. WTF. I can’t comprehend how incredible this will be.

Buy tickets now.

Astrology comes in and out of my life and has done such since I can remember. I recognize that many people find it all to be a bunch of “hog-wash” and don’t like obscure star charts and mystical signs to dictate/direct/inform their lives. That’s cool. But sometimes it’s interesting to take a peak at the other side. What follows is a mildly spooky brush with horoscope predictions, and a breakdown of our Aquarian friends.
Take a peak at the other side after the jump!

There have been countless times when my horoscope has been strangely accurate. Back in 2002, when Carrie and I first met and were on the verge of dating, my horoscopes came the closest they ever have to freaking me out. It made it’s way into my livejournal, and I’ll repost what happened (bear in mind that this is from a more melodramatic time in my life):

At 3:03am I posted in regards to whether or not I should go for it with Carrie:

“Is this what I need? give me a sign….”

At 3:29am:

“my horoscope for december 1st:
You have an opening in your agenda. You’re looking for someone to fit your exact specifications. Accept someone as he or she is, and love will blossom. “

Three days later:

“Some have to work at romance, but it comes naturally to people like you. The stars give you a gift that you must share immediately with the one you love. A smile and a touch work magic with a person who needs this kind of energy.”

And finally, I broke down my two horoscopes from the day before Carrie and I started dating and the day of (these are from an old astrology website that had horoscopes for “singles love” and “couples love”):

“daily horoscope
singles love
december 10th, 2002
Put your past on the table. If someone is just getting to know you, he or she should understand where you’ve been. After talking for a while, it’s your turn to listen. You’re not the only one here with romantic secrets to reveal.
daily horoscope
couples love
december 11th, 2002
Offbeat themes and connections characterize your romance. You’re happy to be such an odd couple. Any other kind of life would be so boring. Together you develop a rhythm and language that wouldn’t work with anyone else. “

A lot from those last two would only really make sense if you knew where Carrie and I were both coming from at that time. A lot of back story that doesn’t have it’s place in this here blog.

If you’re not impressed with the weirdness of those horoscopes, oh well, it was interesting for me to pull all that up again.

So anyway, the whole point of this post is that within our group of friends we have more Aquarius buddies than not. Kellen, Soren, Sky, Me, Jess and half of John (he’s on the cusp, but has many Aquarius traits). Houston, who I consider to be one of my best friends, besides brother, is also an Aquarius.

It’s been pointed out and discussed before, but I had never looked into why that might be or what it could mean.

One astrological website points out that “Aquarians often become friends with other Aquarians, for they prefer to be in the company of like-minded people.” Which, I couldn’t argue with.

www.Astology-Online.com lists these traits for the Aquarius:

Friendly and humanitarian
Honest and loyal
Original and inventive
Independent and intellectual

 

On the dark side….
Intractable and contrary
Perverse and unpredictable
Unemotional and detached

Also from www.Astology-Online.com:

“Aquarians basically possess strong and attractive personalities. They fall into two principle types: one shy, sensitive, gentle and patient; the other exuberant, lively and exhibitionist, sometimes hiding the considerable depths of their character under a cloak of frivolity. Both types are strong willed and forceful in their different ways and have strong convictions, though as they seek truth above all things, they are usually honest enough to change their opinions, however firmly held, if evidence comes to light which persuades them that they have been mistaken.”

“Both types are humane, frank, serious minded, genial, refined, sometimes ethereal, and idealistic, though this last quality is tempered with a sensible practicality. They are quick, active and persevering without being self-assertive, and express themselves with reason, moderation and sometimes, a dry humor.”

“Both types need to retire from the world at times and to become temporary loners. They appreciate opportunities for meditation or, if they are religious, of retreats. Even in company they are fiercely independent, refusing to follow the crowd. They dislike interference by others, however helpfully intended, and will accept it only on their own terms. Normally they have good taste in drama, music and art, and are also gifted in the arts, especially drama.”

LOL at drama……

“Among the faults to which they are liable are fanatical eccentricity, wayward egotism, excessive detachment and an inclination to retreat from life and society, and a tendency to be extremely dogmatic in their opinions. Aquarians can be a threat to all they survey or a great boon for humanity in general. They may express a lack of integrity in broken promises, secretiveness or cunning. Simmering anger and resentment, rudeness or, worse, a tense, threatening silence which may suddenly burst out in eruptions of extreme temper, these are all part of the negative side of the Aquarian. This can also reveal itself in a sustained hatred for enemies that is capable of enlarging itself into a misanthropy toward the whole of mankind.”

If you’ve made it this far, I’d be impressed. I realise that this is a rather self-serving post, which is why I’ve hidden it behind a cut. I suppose some of it’s intent is to put together in one place some astrological information about the one sign that seems to dominate our group of friends. This post also assumes that you are my friend. Strangers don’t read this, do they?

I’m not asking you to agree with any of what these websites say, but if you find this sort of thing interesting, maybe you’ve enjoyed what’s here.

It’s interesting to me that out of 15+ friends, there would be 6-7 of us that are the same sign. And if you believe in all of this “hog-wash”, it would seem to be something to look into. I can’t really seem to gather any “point” or explanation to any of it. It’s just a bunch of info, some of it interesting and on point, some of it boring and far-fetched.

The End.

Come on “MySpace”, cut it out.

Micah will say:

Come on “Greg”, go to VIRB!

This is the most well preserved mammoth discovered to date.

Frozen in Siberia for the last 10,000 years, this little guy was discovered in May by a reindeer herder.

Thanks BBC.

This kid was getting busted for shooting his B.B. gun at a neighbors car.

He looks so awesome.

“EXTERNAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT,
PACIFIC MINERAL DEV. CORPORATION,
ABUJA,NIGERIA.
E-MAIL: PACIFICQUARIES@AIM.COM

In 1985, a foreign investor( GERMAN ) sort for approval to explore mineral resources in my country. My government subsequently granted him approval, issued with a license for a period of 20 years, which could be renewed on expiration.
He later leased the license to US {PACIFIC MINERAL DEV.CORPORATION,NIGERIA} on which there was a standing order issued to us to pay direct to his account with a bank,the sum of Two Million,Five Hundred United state Dollars yearly as contained in the agreement.Our government has since revoked his license as result of his inability to renew it. My firm made several attempts to reach him for the purposes of this renewal or transfer of right to us,but all our efforts to trace him proved abortive.

We later discovered that the man died in testate and without leaving a relation behind. My firm has paid to his bank account a total sum of Thirty -Five Million Dollars since 1991 the money has been accumulated and attracted for percentage.I have had discussions with the bank to refund this money but was told that it can only be paid to any of his relatives put forward by our firm.
I solicit an assistance to enable my firm make a Next of kin to my client LAHM KOWAKA.Then you can look for a lucrative business in your country we can both invest on.We shall file all the relevant documents necessary for this transaction and the bank would effect payment in your favor.You are free to negotiate your mode of compensation.
You would also be required to send us your full names and present country of residence to enable us file for payment in your favor. Subsequently, we also intend to introduce you to the Ministry of Mineral Resources to enable us have the license renewed.

Please send your reply to:ENGR.PETER_PACIFICQUARIES@HOTMAIL.COM
We count on your total co-operation in this regard!

Sincerely,

Engr.Peter Gabriel Dodo.
Pacific Mineral Dev. Corporation,
Nigeria”

Peter Gabriel Dodo? If i were in a sweet punk band i’m pretty sure that would be our name.

At around 7pm this evening I was startled by a huge, apartment-shaking boom. Literally. The building shook. I peered out the window and could see a few people milling about, looking towards the side of our building. I ran outside to see what was happening. My first thought was that a car had hit our building, but judging by the relative non-reaction of those already outside, I knew it wasn’t anything too exciting. Turns out I was right.

KABLOOEY!!!!!!1

What’s in there?

Oh..hmm, a bunch of dust.

Phone calls were made, theories discussed, and then these dudes showed up:

They headed down to investigate:

Off to the right of the photograph you can see our property manager discussing things with the police officer. I’m not positive but I’m pretty sure our manager demanded that they not “kick down any doors down there”, and the police officer had to settle him down, and asked him to step back. He was being very polite in dealing with our frazzled property manager.

Ok folks, you can come back in now! Turns out it was just the water boiler that provides our building’s steam heat.

I don’t think she was posing for this photo, but i hope she was, because what a pose.

I overheard our manager talking with the nice officer pictured above and here’s the jist of what was said:
Her: “Yeah, it was the boiler, good thing it’s the summer time!” Cheerfully implying that we’re lucky it’s warm out, and we don’t need our heaters as much.
Him: “Well it wasn’t my fault.” Awkwardly defensive.
Her: “What?” Confused by the reaction, she tries another attempt at good-natured conversation. “Yeah, that thing was probably 80 years old!”
Him: “Well it was checked last year, and they said it was fine.” Again, awkward and defensive.

They continued like this for another minute, her just trying to talk to another human being, him getting weird, me kind of laughing to myself.

I had just ordered a pizza right before the explosion, and the delivery guy showed up right in the thick of it all. Harrison was clogged full of firefighters and police cars, and this pizza dude just kind of walks into it all confused. Standing in the group of strangers/fellow tenants, all i could say was, “Oh, my pizza’s here.” I offered others slices of my foods but they just sort of laughed and ignored me. Jerks.

i figured i might as well post some pictures up of the Dept. Of Energy, where i’m interning, right now as i type!
the internet is powerful.

so anyway, here are some shots stolen from Micah’s Virb blog.

As you walk up the stairs and round the corner, you’re confronted with parlor games. it’s pretty intimidating. i’m not being sarcastic. i suck at ping-pong and pool. my desk is off to the left of the pool table (not the desk with that ugly PC monitor. i use Micahs MacBook Pro. thanks Micah.)

if you turn around from where that picture was taken, you’d see this:

that heads downstairs to the Utility Inc. offices and warehouse.

here is a shot of Micah’s desk:

this is basically the same as mine, only he’s got fancier things. and his isn’t cluttered with empty diet coke bottles.

so that’s that. i get to play all day in Illustrator and Photoshop. everyone here is really nice, and i’m actually getting to work on things other than typical intern stuff.

it’s great.

and thanks again to Micah, who got me the internship, who lets me use his computer, and who provided the above photos.

Maybe i did it because i was feeling vulnerable, like i wasn’t good enough, like i couldn’t “hang”. But i couldnt even look at myself in the mirror anymore, i couldnt believe where all of my patience had failed to bring me. I looked into the future, and saw what was there, and i took the beard trimmer and i cleaned up my beard.

It might be because all four members of my band have beards (three of us with glasses), plus the handful of other friends i have who are bearded (and bespectacled). It feels silly sitting at a table with 3 bearded friends, all with glasses, all drinking cheap beer. But, i can’t blame it on others. It wasn’t the thoughts of those around me that I was worried about. Most of the time I feel pretty alright looking a little rough around the corners, but i had failed myself. I was ashamed. I told myself that i would let him grow. That i would push through the tough times of beard ownership, allow it to develop through it’s inevitable awkward stages. But i cut it’s life short. It was not where I wanted it to be and at times I hated him for it. Like an embarassed 13 year old with a boner in math, i headed for the bathroom. It’s not completely gone. No, my beard still remains, although at maybe a quarter of the length. But even at it’s greatest length, it was still just a near-beard. It didn’t fill in where it should; only where it’s most red; only on my chubby second chin. My mustache, however, remains. He is my pride and joy. He is at his best, and that makes up for a lot of the self-doubt i have about the rest of my facial hair. I love my mustache, and that means a lot to me. And with my beard trimmed neatly, my mustache is allowed his time in the spotlight.

Others can not deny a man of his beard, only he has that power.

Today I had the fortune of spotting one of these guys:

Image stolen from www.coutant.com
Here is their habitat range:

Thanks to www.whatbird.com for this image.

Seattle is their most northern region, and while not especially rare, they are fairly uncommon.
They are known for hoarding and burying brightly colored objects.
Thanks to my brother Houston for helping with the identification.