tomato update.

all seven seeds have sprouted. much to my surprise, considering they spent 3 years in my freezer. some of the plants are kind of sickly-looking, however. i don't really expect them to thrive all that well. but i do have about 3 healthy, promising ones.

yay fresh tomatoes! especially with food prices the way they are...

easter chocolate.

am i the only one who is vaguely disturbed by the process of assiduously sawing the head off of a rabbit and sticking the rest of it back in the fridge?

plant-based life.

my tomato plants are sprouting! well. two of them are. out of seven total. i was getting worried there. the seeds are 3 years old and have spent most of that time in a freezer. 3 years is about the limit for seeds; i will have to order more next year.

i hope i get tomatoes this year. last year, they died of nitrogen deficiency before i ever got to plant them outside. i am trying different potting soil this time around.

reverberation and reflection.

Thursday, 3 April, 2008. Philadelphia.

8:45pm: everyone is finally all at the apartment where we've been slowly gathering, but drinks are still being drunk and dinner is still being eaten by the apartment residents. a couple people had class this evening.

9:30ish: it's raining. a brief discussion occurs under the awning of the pizza place on the corner as to whether we should walk or wait for a cab, but the venue is about 6 blocks away. eventually common sense prevails, and we walk.

9:30pm: we arrive at the TLA. security is a lot more lax than i remember it. i am asked to empty the pockets of my vest after a brief pat-down, but the guard doesn't then examine my vest again. my legs aren't even included in the pat-down. i used to have this pair of raver pants that included a little velcro-ed pocket right up in the crotch. ostensibly it was for your house key or something, but everyone knew it was for pills. this was when they used to actually pat down your legs.

there is more bass coming up off the floor of the venue (it had been a movie theatre about 30 years ago... my parents saw Yellow Submarine there). this will continue all night.

10:15pm: i ask my friend why they always let these fucking progressive DJs do the opening set. there was one for Underworld back in september as well. we both agree that progressive is the most mis-named genre in musical history, because it isn't. he speculates that it's so that whenever you walk in, everyone is at the same level.

10:40pm: Sasha & Digweed finally go on. the distinctive glow of Apple's icon from the lid of a laptop is clearly seen. Sasha goes first.

11:10pm: some chick behind me whines, "i thought you said this would be over by 11!"

11:30pm: Digweed replaces Sasha. my friend decides he needs to go home and sleep. the tickets were $30, to only be there 2 hours seems like a waste to me. also, i had to negotiate even to get a promise that we would go home at 2am. i am now left alone leaning against one of the balcony pillars.

11:30pm - midnightish: my feet hurt. i continue leaning against the pillar and listening to the music. and the bass. the walls of the TLA are curtained, but the floor and the ceiling are perfectly reflective. in the background, there is a constant chatter of conversations magnified by these surfaces. people keep walking into me. it must still be raining out; a lot of their clothing is wet.

this is one of the times i miss cigarettes... when i used to smoke, they made a really good way of passing the time. i could lean up against the wall and light a cigarette, and when i was finished, i knew at least 10 minutes had passed. Sasha and Digweed are also using ableton, so they're switching up songs about every minute to minute-and-a-half. this results in me checking my watch a lot.

a guy walks by reciting "X,X,X,X,X,X,X." feels like old times.

some time after midnight: two other friends find me at the pillar and ask if i'd like to move to the bar with them. this seems acceptable. i am carded. also, initially, i have lost anything to lean against. a stool is found. i haven't been dancing, or rather, i've been dancing as much as i ever do, which means kind of bouncing slightly in place, so i'm not dehydrated. and i don't have any money anyway. i text him to let him know i've moved from the balcony pillar to the bar.

12:15am: he comes and finds us at the bar. he also finds a friend of his, an ex-londoner who has set up with a recording studio here in philly. they spent all morning together mastering his newest track. the exhaustion begins to hit.

12:30am: Sasha comes back on. Digweed has been spinning CDs, Sasha is using exclusively Ableton running on an Apple laptop (i couldn't see if it was still a powerbook, or if he had invested in the macbook pro, although i rather suspect the latter) and a midi controller. josh wink comes by to get drinks.

12:45am: Sasha and Digweed start working together. i find myself hoping this is the finale and the show might end at 1. i'm tired.

1am: still going. both of them. i move to another stool out from under the balcony over the bar. the highs are hurting my ears. i keep checking my watch.

some time after 1am: they all move to the very front of the bar. i am given a secluded space in front of the curtained entrance to backstage. i am told "it's quieter here." i comment that it's not the noise; i'm just tired. i've been up since 6:30am. i'm so tired i might as well be stoned. only one hour left. we're giving his friend a ride home. i get confirmation again that we will leave at 2am, regardless if the show is over or not. i rather suspect it will be. at least i hope it will.

1:30am: the security guards are getting anxious. two girls have managed to get on stage. we are chastised for blocking an exit (we're under an exit sign, but the little right-pointing arrow is lit, indicating the exit is elsewhere). we move anyway.

a girl motions to me that she would like me to put her jacket someplace. i put it on the stool in front of me and pat it like a cat. she blows a kiss at me and runs off to dance. she will later ask me if i am on myspace, so she can share pictures with me and pout when told i'm not. i give her one of my email addresses instead.

2am: the show is over. their manager announces it is John Digweed's birthday. the whole venue sings "happy birthday" to him. i will later hear that he is really fucked-off about it.

security guards start yelling at people. we're chased out of the bar. we hover on the floor, waiting for his friend, who is backstage talking with Sasha and Digweed. we're harassed by a guard again. then he (the guard) goes up and yells at his friend to get offstage because we have to go away.

we're finally herded out, back on to south street in the rain. there is more yelling. his friend apologizes for getting us yelled at. he was trying to negotiate getting us backstage to hang out, but Digweed was in a bad mood, and then the guard started yelling.

it was a fun night. i'm tired, my feet hurt, and my throat hurts from yelling conversation all night, but i'm glad we came. we haven't done this in a long while. and since smoking indoors has been banned in philly, we don't reek like ashtrays or are covered in raver funk.

getting old.

went to see sasha & digweed at the tla last night.

i have had 3 hours of sleep! never before have i been so tempted to bring my french press and some good coffee to work.

i'm getting too old for this.

and yes, i hope a longer post will follow. but i'm at work now and zzz...

zzz.

why are my internets so slow?

humbug.

holidays.

happy purim!

happy easter!

passover is late this year. it's a jewish leap year as well as a gregorian one.

purim was actually friday. but i worked too much this week and was too tired to make hamantaschen. zzz.

very zzz.

more coffee! coffee is very spring-festival-ish, right?

healthy.

there are some days when i really, really miss cigarettes.

and those anti-smoking websites that try to convince you that insisting that smoking is a pleasurable past-time is just an excuse to justify your addiction are pure bullshit.

i'm not really a non-smoker. i'm just a smoker who hasn't had a cigarette in almost two years.

current reading.

The Chronicles of Narnia

by C.S. Lewis

i was staring at my bookcase last night, and i just thought, "i haven't read these in a while." also, i recently found my copies of volumes 4-7, so i can. and they'll make a nice break from postmodern theology.

i probably won't read 7, though. never liked that one.

credit where credit's due.

"lando calrizzian blew up the second death star in the millenium falcon. credit where credit's due."
- my poor memory of the quote from clerks, which is unaccountably not on the internet somewhere. i probably didn't even spell "calrizzian" right.

this article caught my eye the other day. but not for the obvious reason. i mean, ok, there's the initial boy-some-people-are-gullible reaction, but then i got to wondering.

what does al qaeda think of all these people that believe that the 9/11 attacks were a conspiracy by the united states government? i mean, these men trained for years, they laid out their plans with pretty close precision, as far as we can tell. it cost them a lot of money. there were 17 men in on it, as well as their trainers and financial backers abroad. and the most amazing thing is, they managed to do it under the nose of what is supposedly one of the best intelligence services in the world.

i remember, one of the first things i said that morning when the second plance crashed into the second tower and it was quickly becoming clear that this was no accident was, "what i want to know is, what intelligence service fell down on the job" (i would also like to thank, if i never have, those people who supported me that morning until i found out that my uncle wasn't in his office on the 104th floor, but had been sent to chicago the night before).

and here, all their credit is going to the shadowy g-men of the CIA. shit, that would piss me off *grin*

i mean, faked moon landings are one thing. that's something that's pretty out there. if you don't know all that much about physics. which i can understand. i happen to find astrophysics fun and educational, but i am fully aware that i am something (...) of a nerd.

but, i mean, 9/11. you've got people who claimed responsibility for it! people who are still killing. and, what the fuck, it was all a plan by "the government"? or even better, they didn't want to have to refurbish the towers? these guys go out of their way to release audio and videotapes to keep reminding us that they did it, and they're still being denied the credit.

no wonder they're so angry.