The best part about going through a drive-thru car wash is getting to scream in mock terror as the mechanical snuffaluffagus attacks your windshield. If you are in the car with anyone else at the time, lock your bedroom eyes on them and say, "Let's just make out like teenagers."

How many people do you know that made a memorable first impression? As in, can you recall your first meeting with this person as though it happened last night? I want to make a public list of my vivid first encounters, with a short description. If you are not on the list, don't be offended. If you are on the list, don't be creeped out, be flattered, for you made a lasting impression on a truly beautiful mind: my own.

I do not have a photographic memory. When I recall an event or situation, it is as though I am given the pieces of the scene, including the location, people, and objects. When I "view" the memory, I arrange all if the pieces into a close resemblance of the original experience, like a child plays with a dollhouse, or a benevolent god manipulating souls like so many chess pieces. The lighting is always easy for me to get perfectly.

The first person I met in college that made an impression on me was Missy.

In a recently released study, it has been revealed that 90% of the attractive women in the Greater New Orleans area can be found between the hours of 9-7pm working in one of the stores in the downtown Canal Place shopping center. Just walking in that building makes me look good, just because I am in the vicinity of so many hot, fashionably dressed women.

After seeing a particularly good film recently, I have been asking some of my closest friends what they recall as their most vivid memory of me. Before I ask them, I think of my most vivid memory of them. Its a very interesting excercise, and inevitably I find myself swimming in nostalgia and pathos. Worthwhile, at least, so that you can appreciate the ones you love.

Gustav Adolph was the son of Charles IX and benefited from his father's Pact of Succession in 1604 with the Swedish parliament. Charles IX died in 1611 when Gustav Adolph was sixteen years old, so a regent was appointed for the beginning of his reign. His father had fought prolonged battles with Poland-Lithuania and the regent rule mismanaged crown funds, so when Gustav Adolph took the throne, Sweden was bankrupt. It is one of his many credits as a great ruler that in just 21 years he changed the bankrupt country into a Superpower.

In modern times, Gustav Adolph was named one of the top three kings of Europe of all time (the other two being Henry VII of England and William d'Orange of Netherlands). In his own times he was known as "the Lion of the North" and the "Savior of Protestants."

Gustav Adolph was most well-known for his military genius. He not only revolutionized the art of warfare, but he was also known for his camaraderie and report with the common soldiers. He was wounded several times in battle--stabbed in the stomach and shot in the throat--and he would also die in battle.

He involved Sweden in numerous conflicts during his reign--fights with Russia over territory, renewed conflicts with Poland-Lithuania because of the failed personal union, and participation in the Thirty Year's War.

From The Rise of Sweden

And she said, "How far will this get us from here? I don't want to think about what's back there, and we can never go home..."

I drove to Baton Rouge last night to see Pretty Girls Make Graves. I really wish they had played in New Orleans, for their own sakes. Nevertheless, they rocked this cheezy truckstop club with the worst PA ever. There were under a hundred people there, and they played for about an hour. After a solid set, they said goodnight and turned off their amps. People started leaving and they turned the house lights on. Nevertheless, myself and twenty other kids who had come from out of town stood in front of the "stage" and cheered for an encore that didn't look like it was going to happen. The bassist (ex-Murder City Devils) saw our pitiful little section and talked to the rest of the band; they came out and played a couple more for us. And it was fucking awesome. Maybe the most genuine and passionate encore I've ever seen.

I'm only realizing this morning how much that meant to me. I've become used to being disappointed when I set expectations for other people, even when it is a fucking touring rock band. But it was important last night, and I set myself in front of that stage and screamed for them because I felt an urgency that wasn't going to go away that night or this morning or even in three months. And they fucking delivered.

I woke up in a sheath of warmth that dissapated when I moved around too quickly. If I got out of bed to hit the snooze button, or rolled over to spoon my imaginary girlfriend, I was suddenly a little chilly. The humidity settled back around my skin and I was warm again.

I showed up to band practice and there was some chick on my drums. The other guys were like, "Sarah's going to fill in while we learn to play your song." My song? Oh, you mean that City of Caterpillar song that I was playing the other day? Right...but I'm not going to say that it's not my song until after practice. So we learn the song and it's sounding good, and this girl is totally rocking the drums painfully better than I am able. Then I have to tell everyone that I didn't write this song. I haven't felt embarassed in a long time.

Show #1 - Spacefriends - Mermaid Lounge, April 3
Space rock: I play drums and guitar. There are more guitars and a bass and a keyboard.

Show #2 - The Trashies - Hi Ho Lounge, April 15
Punk rock: You think you know, but you have no idea.

I put up some pictures that I have taken somewhat recently. I think they underline my feelings of desolation and loneliness that I have been feeling lately. Also, here are some pictures from last year's Zulu Parade that I just put back up.



Enjoy them, as they may be the last images you ever see before you go back to work, or studying, or playing with yourself. Wash your hands for crissakes!

I was just in the break room making myself some hot cocoa, when my supervisor walked in to make more coffee or whatever. While he was doing that, my manager walked in with some other dude and they started talking about how the dude should meet the director as soon as possible. Not five seconds later, the director walks in with the VP and they all start yukking it up. Something about TPS reports. The break room comfortably holds about six people, so I was kind of thrust into this impromptu meeting. I couldn't push my way past the VP and the director as they were standing near the entrance, so I just stood in the conversation circle. This went on for about five minutes before we disbanded, and I wasn't verbally acknowledged the entire time. I was ITCHING to do something drastic, but self-preservation overrode my sense of adventure and I diminished from the gathering without any such fanfair.

Also, my new space-math band is looking for a band name. Some initial suggestions:

Gustave Adolphi IV
Blood on the Rockets
Jetfield Republic
Stardust Marley
The Challengers (taken)
Graviteez Nutz
My Penis, Uranus (one of many "Uranus" ideas)