News for the Newdies....and drool for the school

So, i have been helping my parents move into town for the past couple of weeks. Its pretty exciting knowing that they are a mere bike ride away from me now. In fact i have already ridden my bike to their house once already. I cant even describe where they live, other than its near the library. Past the Library on the tart trail. There, thats how i will describe it. So thats cool. But its wierd to think that one of these visits back to my parents old house is going to be one my last visits back to the house i grew up in. Probably in about a year i wont be able to go back there, someone else might be living there. In the house that I (imagine that I being really big) grew up in! So wierd....so wierd....

Im thinking about posting more in this thing....THINKING about it though...thats all, alright. I'll post this one, giving a brief (Probably unsatissfying) update on my life or my SO-CALLED-LIFE. Then it will be at least another month before i post another unsavory update of my so called life.

I dont even see why anyone would read this thing though either, its not like im doing anything exciting like swimming in the mediteranian sea in october or riding my nike through London and/or under the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Speaking about bikes: The frames finally came in so all iv got to do is get the frame to the powdercoating warehouse and pay for it. I can pay for it whenever cause im loaded (Clearly), the hardest part is the powdercoating. Hopefully it all be done in a timely matter. Once thats done all i got to do is get a wheel set and a few odds and ends then my bike will be complete. Yippy............

I am still at the bike gallery and oryana and porterhouse.

I have currently lost interest in typing in this thing, but i am going to continue to try....


See, i only really think about typing in this thing when im sitting at the gallery, which is pretty appropriate i think.

.......

Welp, an old teacher of mine just walked into the store. She was my english teacher from highschool. Ms. Famiano. She was also one of my favorite teachers in pretty much my entire education career. If she was working as an english teacher at NMC im pretty sure id do alot better there....

Speaking of NMC and college, and education as a whole: I really do want to get back into college. I have a better idea of what i want to be and what i want out of college now. Its just due to my lack of....drive in my past school endeavors i feel i have pretty much screwed myself on all future education endeavors. Basically i just see it being really hard for me to get into a college or university outside of....NMC, also known as "NO MORE CHOICES", which holds so true to me. I never took the ACT or SAT tests, i dont know how i could have let those things slide, who ever thought that that was even just an alright idea? Because now thats pretty much what is holding me back from well...everything id say. And sure i have college credits under my name now and all but they are certainly not acceptable, for the standards i wish to be hold NOW in my life. They range between average and below average......at best. So those certainly arent going to help me get into an outside school. And with that and the no SAT or ACT scores...this is certainly a time in my life when i can safely say that Everything is going against me right now. It just seems like for me to get back into school its going to be almost impossible......

Then there are people like my sister, who has gone to school, gotten good grades and has a good GPA and has been awarded like best student or whatever and she is doing the same thing she was doing before she went to college. Its just now she is in a bigger city....working retail.....at a clothing store......in a mall.....and then i see that, and im like "oh, so thats where college gets you...alright.....".........

yippy...

But i'll admitt, after being away for sometime now and exploring my choices (knowing what i want) and boundries (knowing what i dont want) a bit more i do see the importance of college and education and degrees (i guess....) and i feel now i could benefit from them WAY more then i could two or five years ago....and im certainly ready to buckle down and take the bull by the horns and do this. But now is when the sandpaper (Reality) comes in........


So, i cant see myself trying NMC again. Its out of the question really. Basically this summer what i want to do is take my SAT and ACT. Somehow figure out how i can do that...and do it. I want to try and have a score between average and above average. That way iv got a better chance of getting into a college i want to get into. And on top of taking those tests i need to work and make as much money as i can so i can move away in the fall. To Boston. Cause thats basically a very large college town with a ton of colleges in it, so iv got to get into one of them, right? I want to get into a college, and cram as hard as i can and do my best to complete and get into a graduate school, thats when i will slow down a bit more and be able have a bit more of a specific focus. Cause what my goal is, for school is to learn everything i can about nutrition and diets and...basically everything scientifical about food and eating, i guess....not so much the creation part like culinary, but NUTRITION. And when i graduate and get out of school, well....i will just know more about food then what i do now, and thats basically the main and sole reason for why i want to go back to school. Im not thinking about a career or anything like that...iv gotta take small baby steps first.

So, for my first baby step towards getting back into school, iv gotta figure out if a 22 soon to be a 23 year old dude can take his SAT and ACT still.....and then lets go from there....


Alright, lets get out of the dreadful education hole i have dug myself into and back onto the mountain that i have built, battled, and conquered by setting it to blaze:

What i have been listening too:

Mastodon - Crack The Skye (Title track is possibly one of the best metal songs iv ever heard)
Rusko - Fabriclive
Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
Flying Lotus - Discography
Battles - DIscography
Bob Marley - Legend

Fresh Start? Got a haircut.

I shaved my head today, and when i say shave, i mean, shave and razor...to the scalp this time....
Still trying to figure out what happened up there....

Baahhhhh!!!
Alright, whatever, I'll post in this thing.

A couple days when i was under the needle, I remembered i had this thing...

Whats the point in these things? Oh yeah, to keep ERR-one up to date with what im doing in my life....

Whats going on in Lance's life?

-As i mentioned earlier, I have been putting myself under the needle, working on a new tattoo...its a suprise, but if you know where to look you will be able to find it. It is pretty darn painful.

I am a pretty good example of how addicting tattoos can be. I started out two years ago with a simple circle on the back of my leg, now iv got....a few more since then.

-Im planning on going downstate for a weekend, going to see people, music, and just to get out of TC for a bit.

-Iv been working at Oryana, clearly, three days a week. Fixed Gear Gallery two days a week. And anytime i get a chance i email Porterhouse Productions to catch any updates i may need to be informed on.

- On my days off i watch the Wire, an HBO series about the drug culture in Baltimore. Pretty darn good stuff.

- I am currently listening to Oasis - (Whats the Story) Morning Glory?

I have been listening to alot of Aesop Rock, a month ago i would have said "Eh." to him, but iv finally gotten around to giving him the listen he truely deserved. Now I say "Cool."

-My bike is in the same condition as it was the last time i made a post. Only parts still, but really there is no reason to have it assembled yet, the weather isn't exactly optimal riding weather. So i am waiting for the next shipment of frames to come in, which i think is the end of this month.

- The other day there was a Barista competition at the Great Northern Roasting Company headquarters. I was there with Elizabeth (Boss), Conor (Co-worker), and Todd (Inspirational Support). We were there representing Oryana. There were the other Cafe companies there also, Cuppa joe and Good Harbor and obviously Great Northern. Well, in classic Oryana fashion, Conors and My attention was quickly side tracked with the creation of a massive and very dangerous Fire. So rather then representing Oryana in the Barista competition Conor and I threw pallets into a raging hot fire while it was a complete white out with extreme snow and wind. Its been a while since I felt the lashing of a roaring flame singe my eyebrows off. And believe me, i'll pick feeding a dangerous flame over pretty much anything, anyday, especially a barista competition!

Movies, Music, and other Blogs but mine....

So what does one do during the winter when the only free time he has is pretty much from 7 at night to 10:30 in the morning? Watch movies, listen to music, and find entertainment in blogging, not in his own, but in others...oh and sleeping (losing sleep)

Lets get the easy stuff out of the way, and leave the funnest...funnest for last. Well its all fun. Its all the funnest, i mean.

So, there are two blogs i have been keeping up on daily. BSNYC: BikeSnobNYC.blogspot.com Ridiculously audacious and funny. This guy takes swings at anything and everything having to do with the bike culture. From cyclcross, fixed gears, to even recumbent cycles ( even though i think thats the reason why those things were made ). He makes fun of the parts, the prices, the clothes, and the riders, and everything in between. Unfortunatly i think this is one of those things that if your not that fimiliar with the culture you might not think its as funny as i do, i have found myself cracking up (LOLing) by myself, at my house, at 3 in the morning while reading this guy.

The second blog is Troutsandtrees.blogspot.com. This blog is similar to Bike Snob, but hits a lil' bit closer to home. Its all about Traverse City GOSSIP! woop woop, and you know me, im all about that subject, Traverse City that is, not so much the gossip.....clearly.

Gee, remember when i didnt even know what these blog thingys were?

Alright, now we get into more substance. Let me list you ll the movies iv watched in the past couple weeks.

O' Brother Where Art Thou
Batman: The Dark Knight
Incredible Hulk
Iron Man
Lord Of the Rings (Trilogy)
Burn After Reading
Jackie Brown
28 Days Later
Dazed and Confused
the Black Dhalia
Katt Williams
Gangs of New York
City of Men
Mash (Fixed Gear video)
Pi
Pauls Last Stop
Darjeeling Limited
V for Vendetta
Gladiator
Son of Rambow
There Will Be Blood
Sweeny Todd
Paris, Je T'Aime
Slumdog Millionare

All the movies are pretty good and the staff at Family video still cant remember my phone number...i need to start going to the library to get movies.

Next is music. With the inventions of computers and ipods, it is so much easier for me to make sure that no moment is gone in silence. The artists i have been listening to the most has been:

Benga
Whitest Boy Alive
Animal Collective
Fleet Foxes
Dungen
Architects
Beirut


Now that is what i listen to the most because i am either just discovering them or they have released something new. There are however alot more artist that i have gotten into that just wasnt able to keep me away from those artist up there^^ and i am just keeping them on the back burner....if you know what i mean, Or just artsits that have made it to my ear in the past couple weeks, could be first timers or long timers making a come back.

Grouper
Mr. Oizo
Von Bondies
Para One
J. Tillman
Delfonics
M. Ward
Victims
From Ashes Rise
Telefon Tel Aviv
2562
Erykah Badu
The Very Best
Ola Porida
Savath Y Savalas

And some more probably.

So clearly i have been a very busy boy. When i am not working at Oryana, sitting/doing reviews/testing equipment/unwrinkling clothes at the Fixed Gear Gallery, or doing promotion for Porterhouse Productions, i am either walking, listening to music, watching movies, or reading blogs, or doing a combination of any/all of those.

I have also begun to oversee the completion of my new bike, i have the crankset/chainwheel (Miche), bottom bracket (Phil Wood), handle bars (Soma Major Taylors) and bar grips (oury) so far. I already have my frame (Alien) and saddle (Soma) picked out, all iv got to do is pay for them. I still need to decide which set up i want for my wheels and pedals though, and i need to figure out the length of stem i need. I also need to find me a cheap, nothing special, seat post. Some of these things iv never really had to deal with before, like buying a seat post, most of these things i have either already had or it was just given to me, but now that i am actually having to deal with actually looking into the specs and details of this stuff, its quite shocking. I am asking myself quite often "wow, why does this small piece of steele cost so much?" or "Really, whats the differance between a $50 seat post compared to a $150 seat post?" or "Why does a seat post even cost that much?". And Im still not too sure about the seat post situation, thats why i only want something plain and simple...im hoping that plain and simple also means cheap and durable.

What to do?

So Casey moved out of the apartment this past week. This is the first time iv ever had a place to myself. Its pretty wierd. I dont know what to do with myself, iv been watching alot of movies...well, not alot of movies just a couple movies but i'll watch them alot. I watched the the entire Lord Of The Rings trilogy about 4 times in the past 2 weeks...didnt know i was such a big fan of the series. I watched half of Cast Away with Leah today after we went and got her nosed pierced. Then i just got done watching O Brother, Where Art Thou. Iv watched that once everyday for the past 3 days.

My sleeping pattern has been thrown off too...pretty bad. Since New Years Eve basically, i literally dont think iv recovered yet from New Years Eve! I worked at the opera house from 9 in the morning to 4 in the morning, then after that i went and hung out at Serenity with those boys for an hour.

Since this summer i have been working on this tattoo on the side of my body, i finally got it all filled in. Its a solid black line, about an inch and a half wide that goes up from my ankle to just under my arm pit. Its taken over 4 months to complete and ALOT of pain. But its done now. The reason why i did it was pretty much for self discipline. I have found that self discipline has slowly crept into my lifestyle over the past year and has made itself a pretty important aspect of my lifestyle, being vegan and straight edge and all. My definition of fun isnt going out and drinking my nights away, iv got to find better, more productive and more creative things to get my endorphins moving. I cant just go to burger king or any ol' resteraunt and order the special of the day, iv got to find food that doesnt have ANY animal bi-product in it and that includes milk, eggs, and cheese. These are all my choices that i have made and i have to follow through with them as far as i can and I do not see an end in any of choices. So therefore one of my best friends is a lil something called Self Discipline. I jumped into this tattoo on the side of body basically saying that if i can get through the pain and time of doing this then any of my future endeavors that may seem to tough or too exhausting may come to me a little more easier than what one would expect.
Now if you were to ask me though what the line meant, i would say "So i can look kinda cool when im riding my bike through downtown...naked." But thats the quick and suprisingly more accepted answer.

That was also a reason why i took on the challange of preparing my self and following through with a two and half month back packing adventure throuhg Europe.

Well enough about that.

The future is now and now is when i have to plan for...

Dont know what im doing now, or next...im just kind of chilling and trying to get back on track here...still.

In Las Vegas

This is my second time here. I dont know what im going to do here. Im just happy that my family is all here together. Well, my sister, mom, dad and I at least. Since my sister moved out and i moved out of my parents house its fairly rare that even i get to hang out with both my parents at the same time, let alone both of them with my sister....in las vegas. My sister has been living here for....i dont know maybe a little over a year now. I really cant see how anyone could live here in Vegas. This city is....i just dont know what to say about it. Well like i said, this is my second time here, i dont know what im going to do this time.

Its warm here...well, warmer than back in the midwest, thats for dang sure. Im still a little chilly while wearing a hoodie and its raining here too. Who would have thought, rain in the middle of the desert.

Iv been thinking alot about building me a new bike, so when i get home i think im just going to go ahead and buy a new frame from Dennis and work on that through the winter.

Iv also been thinking alot about doing more travelling, going south this time. South America or Middle America...or maybe both.

Tomorrow is Christmas. Hope you people have a good one.

One and a half weeks and im on the move.

So, im back. Thats pretty clear, huh?
It was pretty much non-stop busy busy busy from the second I got back, seeing people, finding a new home, meetings for work and getting ready to go back to work, cleaning up, taking care of finances, getting rid of my travelers checks, closing accounts and opening accounts, packing all my stuff, moving to a new home, selling more stuff, seeing people, working, and buying new shoes...

Its been a bit difficult to adjusting back to this lifestyle....of seeing the same people everyday, waking up, going to work, seeing people....and that's it, the small town life i guess. The time change wasnt TOO bad, really just my sleep pattern was a bit messed up, id go to bed early one day and sleep in untill 1 in the afternoon then i would stay out late and wake up early the next morning. I guess my body is just used to the messed up sleeping patterns.

Well, tomorrow im on the move again to Las Vegas to see my sister and celebrate x-mas....in the middle of the desert.