Lots of stuff going on. Right now I'm waiting up for my mom to get home. My grandmother took a fall, so they had to take her to the ER a few hours ago. Meh.

In other news, I got a really outrageous email today from my domain registrar. Did you know that the federal government has taken away the right to privately register .us domain names? That means if you have or want a .us name, ALL of your registration information will have to be public. For your average Joe, yeah, that may not be a big deal, but for people (and in my case, I'm thinking about the artists I work for who register their names themselves) who are more well-known, this creates huge potential issues with stalkers, pushy media members, etc. Heh. I emailed the press at the LP on that one. For more info, check out www.bobparsons.com.

I added one of my friend's blogs to the side here, Colonel Noseworthy. He's a bud from high school who is currently in Chile. If you need a laugh, this HAS to be your first stop.

I had a great night last night. Me and Jacob and Mike went to Heather's play at VT, and it was really good. Afterwards, me, Jacob, Dana, and Heather went out to the Cellar which was ultra fun as always. We caught up on everything, drank new drinks, and had an overwhelmingly nice evening. At the end we headed over to Crossroads for a bit, and low and behold I found an indie industrial album there! Damn, huh? It's the new delux edition of Razed In Black's "Shrieks, Laments, and Anguished Cries". I've listened to them a bit and thought they were pretty good, so I'm looking forward to popping this one in later on. Also had good luck in the free bin. Got Adema's new sampler as well as some Kasabian pins, so that rocked.

March Shortlist:
51 Peg - Stalemate
A2 - Too Much Time
Alienhead - Heh
Dana Cox - Perfect World
Fluffy Starr - Sampler 2
Head - A Cheap Name
Head - Kry
Illumatininja - Hurricanes & Holidays
Lye - Cut Out Heart
Mankind Is Obsolete - Another World
Snake River Conspiracy - Lovesong
The Birthday Massacre & Kill Hannah - Horrow Show (Boys & Girls Remix)

[22:46] Nad0725: funny how you are involved with almost everything that corrupted me
[22:46] Nad0725: and i thank you for it from the bottom of my heart

Hehehe...been an ok weekend. Spent most of it with my boy, so that was cute. We chilled out mostly...Jacob took me to dinner, and then we found my Tequila Rose (which will be the death of me, lmao) which Jeanne introduced me to in Utah, so I was content for the weekend. On Sunday, I did the dreaded "bringing the boy home to meet the family" for Easter. It could have been worse. My family basically ignored us, but I guess that's usual for me.

Work was kind of good, but also annoying in some ways. I got a lot done on my lighting, but at the same time got some criticism for my last design. Now, grant you, my last show wasn't spectacular. I was still volunteering at the time, and only had, what, 4 days to design, hang, focus, and cue? So yeah, it wasn't the greatest, but neither was the damn play, so I wasn't overly concerned. Well, the criticism came with the filming of the show. Ok, that should throw up a big red flag of "Duh!" to anyone familiar with both live performance and film. There is a HUUUUUUUUUGE difference between lighting for human eyes and lighting for film. About 3000 Watts per instrument difference. Of course the lighting looks like shit. Using home quality cameras and stage lighting...ever heard of amber shift? Grr. I know that they just want me to be my very best, and yeah, it's true, pissing me off is the best way for me to break out of my bounds. But yeah...it made me angry. However, this design is (technically) looking good. I'm feeling a bit more confident in that space. It's so awkward; very short, and not a lot of throw distance, combined with piss poor lights. But hey...I live to make something out of nothing, right?

Design-wise, this show is lacking. We never really have any kind of desing concept or attempt at communication here. I hope we can change that.

Also got disappointing news from several bands this week - a couple with members quitting, and other bands dissolving completely. It blowed for indie music this week.

So, I'm annoyed and frustrated overall today. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Song of the Day: Mankind Is Obsolete - "Ikarus" www.mkio.com

Bourbon Congratulations! You're 104 proof, with specific scores in beer (120) , wine (66), and liquor (34).

Screw all that namby-pamby chick stuff, you're going straight for the bottle and a shot glass! It'll take more than a few shots of Wild Turkey or 99 Bananas before you start seeing pink elephants. You know how to handle your alcohol, and yourself at parties.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 15% on proof You scored higher than 99% on beer index You scored higher than 87% on wine index You scored higher than 83% on liquor index

Link: The Alcohol Knowledge Test written by hoppersplit on Ok Cupid

So Jacob and his band are in the Roanoke Times today for the show tomorrow night. They have the story online, including mp3's: http://www.roanoke.com/entertainment/insideout/music/20727.html

It kinda just hit me that I had a boy write a song about me, and now it's all over the internet for people to hear. Cute!

*feels all warm and fuzzy*

[02:19] Nad0725: i'm still afraid of growing upt hough
[02:19] Nad0725: lol
[02:19] Zeta Vande: lol
[02:19] Zeta Vande: if it makes you feel better, my hair is going gray
[02:20] Nad0725: too much dye
[02:20] Zeta Vande: lmao
[02:20] Nad0725: :-P
[02:20] Zeta Vande: well, hey, I dye my hair, so whatever, lmao
[02:20] Nad0725: it gave up having it's own color
[02:20] Zeta Vande: hahahaha
[02:20] Zeta Vande: yeah
[02:20] Nad0725: said fuck that, she doesn't like me as i am, i quit
[02:20] Zeta Vande: lol
[02:20] Nad0725: the actual color in your hair is vacationing in jamaica
[02:20] Nad0725: smokin some fine ass weed
[02:21] Nad0725: all because you dye your hair
[02:21] Zeta Vande: you know what that is
[02:21] Nad0725: ?
[02:21] Zeta Vande: a blog quote
[02:21] Nad0725: LMAO
[02:21] Nad0725: at least it's not insulting towards me
[02:21] Zeta Vande: lmao
[02:21] Zeta Vande: you have crabs

My funny story of last night is that while riding back from seeing Jacob, I stopped at a light here in good ol' Salem, and some dudes in a pimped out pick-up pull up along side of me. They're all looking at me, though they're clearly high schoolers, and the guy driving revs his engine like he wants to race me. I just roll my eyes and ignore them, and when the light turns green, *poof!* The dude's car stalled out. It was hilarious.

This week has been good. Dispite the disaster of getting my RAM stickers wrong, everything else went well. Mankind Is Obsolete sent me a package with their album, along with a bunch of demo cds and stickers. The album is really good! They have a really different way of approaching music - the vocals aren't in the forefront, but rather almost like a rhythmic instrument. Very cool. I also got my business cards that thankfully were done correctly, and a few more extra copies of other demos I already had, that I can include in my RAM packs. So those are coming together nicely, though I'm dissappointed to be told that my corrected stickers won't be done in time for the first show I'm hitting.

I haven't been to a larger show since Celldweller I think, so I was beginning to get bummed out, then all of a sudden EVERYONE is touring near me. I'll be seeing 51 Peg at least once, then Deadstar Assembly is going on tour, and coming to 3 venues near me, at least 2 of which I'll be going to. Also, I think I'm going to Ozzfest this year. Not really the most exciting line-up, but it's closeby and I feel like I'm missing out on a culture experience that I should have at least once.

Speaking of shows, Tripleside is playing tomorrow night, opening for Lake Trout and SNMNMNM. I better brush up on the Spanish Cucumber lines. So come out!

Speaking of more shows, Jack's movie, "Fool", is premiering on April Fools Day (imagine that) at Tech in the Recital Salon. I think I work that night, which blows, but anyone nearby definately needs to go see this.

Song of the Day: Fluffy Starr - "Bitter" www.fluffystarr.com

My schedule is really nice, but I think I miss having the random 4 day weekends every once in a while.

I spent so much money last week it's not even funny...from putting into my retirement fund, to getting new tires, to paying for medical insurance, etc...yeah...I'm poor again.

The band is going really well! We had a bassist out this week and he seems to be a really chill dude. He kinda reminds me of Dana - except that he showed up to practice in a suit. Craziness, hahaha! Gonna get the guitarist out this coming week, so hopefully all goes well. I've started the website...www.alienheadmusic.com. Just for the record, I'm not going to be activly promoting this as "Valdyr's" band. I think if this does go well, I'd rather just leave those two worlds seperate. We're on myspace now, too, so lots of you might be getting a friends request soon. ;-)

I found the coolest thing at work today. An antique Shure 55SW. You know, the type of mic that JVB from Otto's Daughter uses, except that this is the real thing, not a reproduction. It looks to be in excellent condition, and even has the patch cables into today's standard XLR. So I'm going to take it out to practice this week and see if it works, and if it sounds cool.

Kinda disappointed though. I got my RAM stickers in the mail and they were cut wrong! So I'm trying to get that rectified. This company has been good thus far, so hopefully this won't be a big deal to get them to fix it. But I really need them ready by the 51 Peg show.

And Jacob's computer broke. That's sad. I hope he gets a new one soon, so I can tell him cute things again!

Song of the Day: Celldweller - "Switchback" www.celldweller.com

So it looks like I sprained my hand at work today, meh. So I'm not gonna type too much.

I did get the cd art done for the RAM comp. Yeah:

Been a good day! Got a lot of lighting work done today at work, which was cool. Then, B let me leave early so that we could make it to Rafe's party in time, and that was really nice. It was good to see some people again, and to just hang out for a bit. And it's good to know Chris doesn't hate me too much to not come down for Wrestlemania, haha.

The fun story from dinner is that there was this waiter that looked EXACTLY like Legolas. It was amazing. He comes walking by and all of us women just stop talking and stare as if on cue. Hahaha. Fun times.

So, tonight's been great! I've been talking to Elise briefly, and I'm more than likely going to be going to the 51 Peg show in Fairfax at the end of April. And we'll try to get the interview for RAM finished there. (So yeah, Corrie, you're gonna come too, right?) :-D

So with that coming up, I'm going ahead with the new Samplers...been emailing various bands all evening, depending on who I think might best fit this show's audience, so we'll see how it goes. I've also been working on the artwork for the compilation that comes soon after. Wanna see a preview? Sure you do. All artwork is courtesy of the ancient equipment in the theatre.




So yeah, that's the basic idea. Still need to do the CD label itself, but it'll match up with that. I'm so excited!

A long and hard day at work, but a good one! Today we hung the new CYC in the theatre (special backdrop for lighting, for all you non-theatre people). That took a bit of time, but we got it done and it looks great! The rest of the day was one of those evenings where everything is happening at the same time; we're usually dead in regards to media support, especially compared to the hotel, but this evening I've got three different rooms going on, so I'll be here later than usual tonight to watch over everything.

Finally got a chance to sit down and have some dinner, so I thought I'd write a bit too. I like having a bit more freedom here at work...I can bring in my laptop, carry my cell around, no uniform...it's so much more relaxed.

Not much else going on, really. Just kinda going along. Oh! I talked to Topher last night for an extreme blast from the past. Haven't talked to him in almost two years I guess. Feel kinda bad for him. Last time we talked he was engaged, but that all fell through. His intended decided pursuing her career was more important than settling down and having his family. Not that I told him so, but just based on the simple facts, I agree. In general, we're all too young to get married quite yet. I remember reading a book - in fact, I think I posted it here not to long ago, where the lead character realizes that if she stays with her true love, she'd wake up one day realizing she'd wasted her dreams by finishing someone else's. In the end, I hope we all find a way to pursue our dreams and be with the loves of our lives, but at the moment I think we all have a bit more time on our hands. But yeah, I feel bad for my old "bird-killer" buddy (who is now proud of the fact that he hit a frickin' deer with the ambulance this time) who told me he misses Roanoke a lot. Even said he wanted to hang out with me sometime, which was amusing considering how he felt so much more above me when we were working together on Opus years ago, heh. Strange how it all works out, huh?

So yeah. Things are gonna start to get busier for me now that we're getting closer to show time here. We start light hang this Friday. So I guess I better start rounding up my crew, right?

Song of the Day: 51 Peg - "Thin Victory" www.51pegcom

So this past week was interesting. Worked over at the hotel for a few days doing camera work. For the most part, it was pretty fun. They had a chef's convention there, so I was IMAG'ing the cooking. The guys were all really nice to talk to. The only bad thing is that for some reason I got absurdly sick the first morning and about passed out on stage. Meh. So hopefully that was just a one time thing and nothing more. Because that was pretty embarrasing, lmao.

My boy came home, yay! I saw him yesterday for awhile, which was nice, since he's been gone all week. Then last night me and Derek met up for practice. Things went really well. We worked on "Heh" for awhile, and it's really coming together. He had written some music last year that he had no lyrics for, and mine went with it seemlessly. Then we started changing things up...changing the bassline, rearranging the pieces, etc. It was awesome. It seems like we work together really well.

Today I got my car realigned, so that was awesome to get that fixed...but everything happens at once, right? Yeah...need new tires...*sigh*. And that is going to be expensive. But I guess that's the way it goes, eh?

Song of the Day: Celldweller - "Own Little World" www.celldweller.com

Today was a much better day at work. Not nearly as annoying as yesterday, haha. Spent the afternoon finishing up with the VHS duplication and then went around the Science building servicing overhead projectors. Not bad. Not bad at all. Also talked to B for awhile about future outlooks. He's really interested in creating a community with all of the local theaters in the area. That's really exciting to hear, and definately something I want to be a part of.

I called Fluffy yesterday and talked to her for a bit. Sounds like things are going well in regards to recording. Can't wait for the album!

Did more updates to RAM yesterday and today (Isn't it nice that I have enough time to do this, like , every day?) Found a place that made stickers very cheaply, and ordered some of those free business cards, too. So that was awesome. I added a few more good bands to the site. So go to the freaking forum and talk, ok?

Song of the Day: Head - "Kry" www.headtochrist.com

I keep meaning to post this, but yeah...Dana and Laura are engaged. Congratulations!

In other news, I'm sitting here bored out of my mind in the control booth. This morning was annoying as hell - why we didn't bother to test out the new mega-podium (basically this huge cart unit with the computer, VCR/DVD player, sound board, mic, document camera, DA, etc.) yesterday I don't know. This is brand new and we just set it up, so of course something was going to not be right. From completely routing the VGA signals bassackwards to simply not providing power to the sound console, it took me over an hour to get this thing set up. *grumbles* I was supposed to be able to leave after that and work on campus, but since half the presenters are using their own laptops and the other half our computer, I have to stay and help with transitions. You would think public presenters would be used to technology, being that that's all they do?? *sigh*

So I've been working on some new stuff for Radio-Active-Music.com. Big stuff. Getting ready to update the site with a new "Music" page that not only lists the downloads on the site (the ones now on the individual artist pages) but also links to free downloads offered by bands on their sites AND to every artist profile on sites such as myspace and purevolume. My "free and legal download center" on my personal site has been very popular, so I hope this will really bring in more traffic to the site.

Also, I found an awesome place to press cds. I'm going to do a short test run for a new line of Sampler cds, and then - the compilation. I'll be emailing artists soon to see if anyone's interested. Both lines are definately affordable to me where I'm at now.

So...I'm gonna work on cover and press art now.

*Yawn* Had to get up early to take my car to the shop. Good news is, it's not my transmission, and all is well. Well, it will be by Monday.

Have to get up even earlier tomorrow for my one morning shift a month. It was supposed to be overhire, but it changed to regular at the last minute, so I'm not making as much money as I had hoped this week, but hey, that's the way it goes I guess. Found out that my overhire at the hotel this weekend is going to be some interesting IMAG work, so that should be fun.

Been talking to Manek and some of his buddies at Ecult today. Things are really starting to get going. So exciting!

Got Amphibious Assault's album in the mail the other day. Very cool. Leaning more towards the techno side, but she's got a killer deep voice, and good beats. I like it.

Song of the Day: Alienhead - "Sacred" www.radio-active-music.com

If I had known the ABC version of Harry Potter and the Sourceror's Stone was going to have extended scenes, I would have taped it. They just had the first potion's class scene, and it was like, twice as long. Hoooooooooooooooooooot. Snape is hot...wow...ok, I'm done.

Hot. Jesus Christ, that was orgasmic. Ok. I'm really done now.

Got back from band practice a bit ago. It was ok. We don't really think this drummer is gonna work out. It's so hard to find anything other than a guitarist around here. So, we keep looking. In the meantime, I hope this David guy works out. We're gonna try with him next week. Things were ok with me I guess. Apparently I'm still dealing with the sickness from last month. My voice was really scratchy and kept breaking. It sucked, but I guess that's how it goes. I'll be happier when it gets warmer.

So, yeah, Jacob reminded me to post this: when we were at the thrift store the other day we found some awesome cds. He managed to find me a promo copy of Snake River Conspiracy's "Sonic Jihad", then I found an old demo from Grade 8, a band that opened for Orgy on the west coast on the last tour. How either cd found it's way into a Y thrift store in southwest Virginia I have no idea, but it was awesome.

Yay, fun weekend! Me and Jacob went shopping yesterday - I found some cool clothes and accessories. Definately have my first show outfit down now, even though that won't be for awhile yet, lol. Bought some books too. Can't go wrong with that. I ran into Cullen, too - he's working two jobs at the mall...haha, when we went into the bookstore they had all the employee's suggestions and his was obviously the most obnoxiously in-your-face sex book, haha. He got accepted into whatever school you go to when you're gonna do underwater welding. Seriously. He's awesome like that.

Then Jacob cooked stir-fry for dinner and that was awesome. We sat around watching Star Trek Nemesis - the rules this time were everytime someone said Thermylon radiation and every inside Star Trek joke. Hehehe.

He left earlier this morning to go home for Spring Break, which is sad, but he's cute so it's ok. I've got probably my busiest week coming up - I'm seriously gonna double my paycheck with overhire this week, so that rocks.

In the meantime, been another good week in music. First off, I finally met this David dude that wants to be our guitarist, and he's uber cool. He seems to be in a very similiar interest range as me and Derek, so I hope that works out. Today, the drummer is coming out with us so we can see if that works out.

Then, I got I:scintilla's album in the mail, and it's great. A very chill yet intense gothic rock sound - made perfect driving music yesterday with it being warm yet cool, clear, but with big fluffy white clouds mixed with ominous black clouds, blowing strong. Heh. The weather described the music perfectly, and it was awesome. Then, Head's first rough mp3 was put up on a Christian website, and it's good. Like, a NIN or APC kinda feel. I really really dig it. I'll have to go find the link and post it.

So yeah, gonna go shower before practice. Wheee!

Song of the Day: Fluffy Starr - "Telefone" www.fluffystarr.com

Had a good day at work. Spent most of my time in the shop, cleaning and organizing, which is cool. B has a kickin' sound system installed, so I jammed out all day. This is the life.

My mom's doing ok. Don't know if I mentioned it here, but she had surgery today to see if they could fix her back. So today I had to go grocery shopping for the whole family for the first time in my life. It's wierd. I'm afraid of domestication. Ha.

There are so many electrician jobs in Southern Cali on Backstagejobs.com it's not even funny. *sigh* Even though I like my new job, I'm not really happy right now. There are other things in my life that I'm disappointed with. I feel like I'm being pushed aside. I have to keep telling myself that this is not permanent, and keep myself from getting too comfortable or feeling like this is a home, or I'll start accepting it, too.

Song of the Day: Celldweller - "Switchback" www.com

[00:10] hybrid shredda: and they all freak out over the slightest bit of news
[00:10] hybrid shredda: like
[00:10] hybrid shredda: a dog took a dump on jays front lawn
[00:10] hybrid shredda: and people will go on ebay and buy the poo for 500$

Pretty much.

I like being creative at 3 in the morning. Hehe...lots of cool stuff happening soon with Fluffy Starr, hence the sudden impulse of fans and subsequently fan creations. Here's what happens when Laura figures out how to really utilize the "addition" feature on PaintShopPro:

So that was fun. There are a lot more banners and avatars coming out. I like doing stuff like this.

I got a few cds in the mail yesterday. I'm doing pretty well in really keeping up with all my bands' releases - I got In Winter's demo and it's very cool. I can't wait for that album. Then I'm also in the process of updating my older sections of the collection by going back and buying older releases I don't have. This week it was Otto's Daughter. Again, both albums are great, and I figured since they're looking for money to produce the upcoming EP, now was as good a time as any to support them. They really are a great band; if you're into very powerful and beautiful female vocals overlaid industrial pop metal (seriously), this is a band for you, and they can definately use all the support they can get.

So continuing my CD addiction I've ordered both Amphibious Assault's album and I:scintilla's. I was trying to wait on AA's till I went to Toronto, but the clips are so good. So yeah, in case I haven't told you yet, I'm going to Toronto the end of August with my family. Now, you may remember the lousy time I had in Key West last year and how I swore that was my last family vacation, but this trip promises to be better for two important reasons: one, I'm not going to be going through a tragic break up this time, heh, and two, MUSIC. Three of the bands on RAM are in Toronto, so I'm gonna do everything in my power to be with them and not the fam for that week. I'm thinking, though, that TBM is gonna be out of the country still for their tour, but I hope to maybe see Lye and AA while I'm there. So, here's to hoping and hinting for shows that week.

Song of the Day: Fluffy Starr - "NV" www.fluffystarr.com