Wednesday, January 28, 2009

So Excited I Forgot to Title this Post

My good old friend Augi made my day by posting the following video to Twitter and claiming me as the star. Since this is a blog covering the finer points of how to be Bill, you can now all be let in on the secret.




But if you're really going to pull this off, make sure you're carrying a copy of Camus' The Stranger while drinking a cup of custom roasted, french pressed coffee. Trust me, it TOTALLY works.


ADDENDUM: Any time when you hear me talk about Explosions in the Sky, my hands-down favorite Post-Rock band, that's really me speaking in code. I'm actually talking about John Cougar Mellencamp.

Making up for lost blog

Well folks, I've managed to do it again -- I have been utterly neglectful of my blog for over a week now. Luckily, it appears that my part in the recording process with the new band is finished, for the time being at least, my thesis is inching its way towards being back on track, and work is maintaining at its steady pace if not getting a tad more involved. Other than that, I have just been trying to catch up in the world of reading, television, and the like.

Alas, I am getting that "new year is in full effect, birthday is looming in the not-too-distant future" sense of restlessness. I feel like there is more that I should be doing, or that I should be re-prioritizing my efforts these days. I can't say that I'm especially let down with things at the moment -- rather, I'm happy to be employed, in good bands, and surrounded by great friends. Still, every year around this time I get a little antsy. I just can't help myself.

Unfortunately, life has been most anything but interesting. Work, music, bars, billiards, even a little bowling - but nothing at all out of the ordinary. No wild drunken shenanigans, no pee pants, just the regular nine-to-five (and then seven to midnight) life that I have come to know. I wonder if that is the problem, or what's getting my goat? I wonder if I am growing too complacent with the humdrumming of my regular existence, or if this feeling is just a byproduct of the time of year.

Either way, it's grown way too late already. I will be working on my paper at the coffee shop the next two days, and you know that's usually a breeding ground for stories, so I hope to have something a tad more entertaining in the next few days.

Monday, January 19, 2009

That's just messy.

So this past week I was out with my friends after leaving a show. We were standing around, flapping our gums a bit before we all went our separate ways, and during the course of our conversation, a couple walked out of the venue. The guy turned to the right and started down the block, and the girl yelled behind him "where are you going?" Now, let me try to describe this one. This was not the "where are you going?" that you get when you start down the wrong direction on the street because you've forgotten where you parked your car. Rather, this was the "where are you going?" that would be asked of someone fleeing a crime scene or the mafia. It was full of desperation, full of sadness, and, to a certain degree, full of anger.

The guy turns around, and he and the girl begin walking up the street in the opposite direction of the way he'd originally headed. My friends and I all sort of shrug at each other, cock our heads to the side, and let the two slide from our vision as we continue chewing the fat. A short time elapses, and the next thing I know, I look up the block at some sudden movement in the direction of the couple, and the girl, seemingly out of nowhere, kicks the chain link fence that lines the sidewalk on which they are talking. Suddenly, I realize they have been having a rather intense "conversation" for ten, maybe fifteen minutes. Then, in that blink of an eye, it all came together: the yell, the kick, the length of the conversation - it all made sense: they were having a messy public breakup. What followed made it obvious; there was crying, shooing away the comforting of the guy, sitting on the curb, and when I left, she had moved to a bus stop island, and was sort of crumpled into a ball and crying.

So here is where I have to get into a little analysis: see, despite my crabby and generally sarcastic exterior, I tend to be really altruistic. When I see someone in a bad situation, much like this young lady was, it is my natural imperative to try to help them as best I can. However, there wasn't much I could do here: as I was leaving, at least I took specific notice to make sure that the guy she was with was sticking around, and making sure that whatever happened, she would at least make it home safely. And it's moments like these that I always feel torn - as a generally good fella and someone who tries to do his best to his fellow people, I always feel like I should step into situations like that and prove that in the end I am, in fact, a mensch.

This is not the first time I've been in a similar situation, and I have had the same thing happen almost every time: I see some situation like that, but something always stops me at the last minute from going over there and helping the person, and it makes me wonder, am I really that great of a guy? Can my intentions to want to help someone who I can see is clearly in a tough spot really mean much of anything if I don't step up and offer them a shoulder to cry on? Or have I just become desensitized by San Francisco - the odds are pretty even that for every time I help someone there are just as many chances of them being a nice person who really just needs someone for them as there are chances of them being either violent or crazy.

Also, I've always been curious about how these weird public breakups happen. These kids were at the same show that we were at; everyone seemed to have a good time, the bands were all talented and played solid sets. Did this guy just decide to dump this girl mid-show? Did he randomly start making out with some girl only to get caught by this poor heartbroken young woman? Did they break up and decide to still go to the show with the hopes they could make it through the evening and still be civil? Based on my one experience of something vaguely resembling a public breakup, I went out to a movie with a girl, knowing I was going to have 'the talk' with her afterwards. But hey, I was in high school and I sure as hell didn't know any better. Did this guy make the same mistake, or did something happen? Either way, the whole concept of the messy public breakup always fascinates me. Is there anything quite as awkward? Plus, isn't the whole idea of breaking up with someone in public so that they can't make a scene? Doesn't this negate the whole concept of breaking up with someone in public? Moreover, what in the hell might happen if they broke up in a more private, secluded area?

Just some things to keep in the back of your head as we make our way through the week.

Go Obama.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Oh, grow up.


First and foremost, I know that I have been uber lame about not updating this blog more often, unfortunately, there just aren't enough hours in the day a lot of the time these days. My musical life has been even more hectic than usual, I'm still adjusting to "work mode" after the holidays, and since I usually end up writing these later at night or immediately before I go to sleep, I have been dedicating that time to something I don't do enough of: sleeping. Still, I've had this one brewing for a while, and I finally need to put it all out on the 'net.

As most everyone knows, there was a fatal shooting at a local BART station (that's a rapid transit train for you non-Bay Area folks) in which a twenty-two year old man in custody was shot by a BART police officer, which means his jurisdiction is strictly what happens inside of the station and it's surrounding area. There are arguments on both side of the issue, and I feel both are valid. In my personal opinion, there are no "right" answers - simply put, it was a regrettable situation all the way around. It's something that should have never happened, but it did, and as a result a man who had done nothing wrong outside of struggling while in the process of being cuffed by law enforcement officers lost his life. He should not have been shot, but from everything I saw the shooting could not be called intentional. My heart goes out to his family, as well as the family of the officer who pulled the trigger; both will certainly be haunted by this incident for years to come.

But I'm not here to debate that or get into the politics that go into our criminal justice system or anything like that. I'm not here to assign blame or even to take a stance one way or another. What I'm here to do tonight is to get something off my chest about the morons who are protesting something they don't understand or have any personal connection to.

Before anything, take a moment to read the accounts of the riots in Oakland, where the shooting took place, right here.

So how do we highly evolved people express our displeasure in what happened? We riot. We set cars on fire. We throw bricks through storefronts. We hurl newspaper stands into the street. We jump on the roof of cars while smashing their windows with a baseball bat. We get arrested. We make death threats to a man who is not yet proven guilty of a crime (double standard much?) and what's worse, we make death threats to his wife and his weeks-old baby. And why do we do this? To express our displeasure with police oppression, of course! As one man who was arrested for vandalism claimed "I fight because I still can; the victim can't." What the fuck are you fighting for? The officer discharged his weapon in the line of duty, which means by law he is given a certain amount of exemption. Are you fighting because a verdict hasn't been handed down in time? Shouldn't you be happy that officials are taking their time and making sure that everything is done right? Why are you destroying property in your own city, destroying businesses run by minorities to protest the death of a minority in your city? The police officer was a BART police officer, NOT by an Oakland Police officer. He could have just as easily been stationed anywhere else throughout the Bay Area, but he happened to be in Oakland that night. And what's the result? Based on two nights of riots, forty five business have already filed damage claims. Which, fortunately, is much smaller than the initial estimate of three hundred damaged businesses.

Call me crazy, but do we not live in a society of laws? Is there no accountability for lawlessness? See, here's the thing: these people know damn well that they can do whatever they desire, since they have the police over a barrel. The police can't use any force, knowing that someone will capture it on a camera, and then they have a lawsuit. Imagine if some delinquent who was hopping up and down on the roof of a car happened to be pulled off the car and they broke their leg. Whose fault is it? Not the jackass who is destroying property; no, it's the fault of the officer who is doing his job.

I have always felt that we are too hung up on being p.c. and worrying about people feeling good about themselves. Why is the use of force a bad thing? Maybe it's just the threat of the abuse of power. I'm not saying that it doesn't happen, I'm just saying that maybe we could put a little more power back into the hands of the law enforcement. Maybe we could prove that there are consequences for breaking the law. I know it's crazy, but I can tell you, with the threat of imprisonment or worse, you might just think twice about hurling that brick or lighting that Molotov cocktail.

It's time for people to grow up and take accountability for their own actions. On this point, I'm not even limiting myself to criminal actions. What ever happened to the good old-fashioned apology? What ever happened to "Sorry, I will do better next time." or "That was my fault."? Why is it that when people are corrected, our knee-jerk reaction is to say something that starts with "If someone had told me..." or "well, okay, but I was thinking..." What happened to the days when direct responses were a commonly accepted form of communication? Nowadays it's all "Could you do me a favor?" Or "If you have time..." or the "Hey, if you wouldn't mind too much..." Look, if you are working with someone, and you need them to do something for you what ever happened to "I need you do to something" or a direct answer to questions. When did answering a yes/no question with just the word yes or no seem like you're giving attitude or something? If I wanted to give attitude, you'd ask a yes/no question and I'd inform you to perform lewd acts upon your mother or to remove your head from your sphincter and leave me alone.

Yeesh, I guess I rambled a bit tonight. Maybe it was a little off topic, but hey, I feel like I can rest a little easier now that I got that off my chest.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Office Appropriate?


I suppose the title is a tad misleading, but this whole question came up when a discussion of work wear arose in the office the other day. See, Newsweek wrote an article the other day talking about the decline of general style and the increasing perpetuation of the stereotype of the "ugly American." All in all, I have to say that I agree with the article for the most part - I think the average perception of the American across the glob is a slightly doughy and slightly lazy folks clad in jeans, sweatpants, t-shirts, and other similarly slobbish apparel. Sadly, much of the allure of everyday dress has been lost of those of us who don't make six figures. I know I certainly am guilty of being a chronic "dresser downer" but in my industry, that's kind of the standard. I will admit, however, that I do miss the days of the daily shirt-and-tie of teaching. I also noticed that my appearance the rest of the day was also affected, as when you get more casual than a shirt and tie, you have a lot of options. It's not really possible to come home and "relax and get comfy" when you wear a t-shirt to work. I guess at least I don't ever wear sweats or pajama pants.

Really, what we have developed in our culture, much like the class divide, is an apparel divide. There used to be a saying when you saw wealthy folks dressed in Hawaiian shirts or a grubby t-shirt you used to say "they must really have to make a lot of money to get away with looking like that. Now, thanks to the dot com era, the idea of "business casual" has lost almost every trace of "business" to it. Nowadays, it seems like the only people that still wear ties to work are in the customer service sector. Most CEOs of companies these days wear polo shirts, maybe an open-collared dress shirt at most. I don't mind entirely, I will say that it is rather nice to be able to wear jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoodie to work every day and have no one bat an eye. Still, there is a lot to be said for going to work in a somewhat formal look. However, nowadays, if you wear a shirt and tie while your boss's boss wears a polo shirt, you might look just a little odd.

Interestingly enough, what the article also mentions is that the tide is turning yet again. I thought it was a tad of a stretch to think that Obama would bring about this change, but every little bit helps. Maybe he can remind people that there's a little more to fashion than just wearing a tie. Certainly Michelle Obama will help the ladies get a little more variation of the subdued dresses we've seen out of first ladies for the past few generations. Luckily, Obama's presidency also coincides with the rise of TV's "Mad Men" and the new movie "Revolutionary Road" so there is finally a re-discovering of the classic, rugged, retro look that I've always been ever so fond of. It's a good push in the right direction.

Just remember folks, casual is in the eye of the beholder. Take a tiny little glimpse in the mirror every day before you go about your day and say "what does this outfit say about me?" I can tell you this much: mine says "I am a professional blogger with a penchant for awesome t-shirts." And my outfit couldn't be more right about me.