Woken up early by my landlord so he could retile my bathroom floor. Originally he had planned to renovate my kitchen while doing some work on the rest of the house. When I showed him the problem in the bathroom he planned to retile.
All of this work is very early in the morning which doesn't fit with my schedule. I'm woken every morning with people talking right outside my window. Now I'm without a bathroom. Luckily C is off today and hopefully we'll be able to get together so I can get out of this or at least take a shower at her place.

Most of my playlists are done. The only problem is the Chicago one is far shorter than the rest since I don't have much to draw on. Kam is going to offer some suggestions. Not that a lot of songs haven't but written about Chicago, but none that I would want to put on my list.

Here's Memphis:

Ah Via Musicom/Cliffs of Dover- Eric Johnson
That's Alright Mama- Elvis
I Walk the Line- Johnny Cash
Great Balls of Fire- Jerry Lee Lewis
Green Onions- Booker T and the MGs
Memphis- Chuck Berry
Going to Memphis- Johnny Cash
Mystery Train- Elvis
Memphis- George Thorogood and the Destroyers
Memphis in the Meantime- John Hiatt
Copperhead Road- Steve Earle
Graceland- Paul Simon
Bring Me Some Water- Melissa Etheridge
Domino- Roy Orbison
Oddfellows Local 151- REM
Main Man- Ramones
The Devil & Me- Clutch
Memphis- Jerry Lee Lewis
Walking Shoes- Tora Tora
Big River- Johnny Cash
Walking in Memphis- Marc Cohn
Black- Pearl Jam
Hey Jealousy- Gin Blossoms
Riverside Drive- Tora Tora
All the Way from Memphis- Contraband
Backwater- Meat Puppets
Butterfly Wings- Machines of Loving Grace
Let Me In- REM
Memphis- Rancid
Makin' Monsters for My Friends- Ramones
Baby, Will You Please Help Me- Charley Musselwhite
Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town- Pearl Jam
Memphis Tennessee- Elvis
Elvis is Everywhere- Mojo Nixon

These are all songs about Memphis, recorded in Memphis or songs that remind me of the city

It's two in the morning and I've been feeling nostalgic. It started when I heard a song mention Memphis so I looked up all the songs I have that mention Memphis (a lot) then I added a few that reminded me of Memphis.
I started a Chicago playlist after that, something I knew I'd do for a while. How many versions of Sweet Home Chicago are there?
I'm working on one for Boston too. Though they have the least amount of songs written about them (Chicago has the most of the three) they do have one theme song- Dirty Water by The Standells.

This will take a while but when I finish I'll put the playlists up here. I made one for Seattle when I visited. Here is is:

Halo of Ashes- Screaming Trees
Touch Me I'm Sick- Mudhoney
Scoff- Nirvana
Alive- Pearl Jam
Would- Alice in Chains
Francis Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle- Nirvana
Pretend We're Dead- L7
Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns- Mother Love Bone
All I Know- Screaming Trees
Hunger Strike- Temple of the Dog
Outshined- Soundgarden
Them Bones- Alice in Chains
School- Nirvana
Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More- Mudhoney
Ugly Truth- Soundgarden
Nearly Lost You- Screaming Trees
State of Love and Trust- Pearl Jam
May This Be Love- Jimi Hendrix
Say Hello to Heaven- Temple of the Dog
Something in the Way- Nirvana
Dying Days- Screaming Trees
Rooster- Alice in Chains
In Bloom- Nirvana
Overblown- Mudhoney
Confusion- Presidents of the United States
Serve the Servants- Nirvana

I'm not too familiar with the city. The other ones will be a bit more diverse.

I'm working on an article I'm writing too. That, and continuing computer problems have kept me from writing here as much as I used to.

I'm a politics junkie. I wish I wasn't, it only brings anguish and there have been times when I attempted to lose all interest and become apathetic about what was going on but it didn't last long. I used to be incredibly idealistic, the solutions seemed so simple. Now I'm a realist.

I see now that my turn towards realism is the product of bias and my reactions to what I have seen around me. I have become incredibly cynical and I wish I wasn't. I still believe things can get better and we're not that far off from good things but it seems nonexistent. The way the world is going (and I along with it) it doesn't look like anything will ever get solved.

There is a great many things to concern ourselves with. This country has become rampantly greedy. It has become an epidemic problem. Capitalism is at its worst when people believe it is their right to have such extravagance that it takes food, comfort or survival from others. When hundreds must go without food or suffer continuous pain so someone else can have an extra car they never use or another mansion, greed is criminal.

Education has become abysmal. While most that can afford it shelter their children away in private schools, our public school system wastes away. Those in power want to stay in power and will do anything to do so, no matter how unethical. A lot of lip service is given to education because it's one topic that always sways voters but nothing is ever done for it.

In Michael Moore's film Sicko Tony Benn, a former member of Parliament, says people that are hopeless or pessimistic don't vote and are easier to govern. Those in power want a hopeless and apathetic people that don't vote. They will never support their interests nor work to serve them. Their needs go unanswered.

How disheartening it is to live in a country that tout itself as the purest example of Democracy cares so little about, isn't even a Democracy by definition. I cringe whenever I hear someone brag about this country when they have so little idea of what it really is or what it has become.

Hell, a lot of people think the US beat Germany to win WWII.

After World War Two the US experienced greater prosperity than ever before in its history. After displaying to the world it's manufacturing, as well as military might, they were in a position to become the key player in global affairs. Fueled by oil, which seemed to be in abundance, new businesses and industries sprouted. The middle class was born and expanded quickly.

The cities had become too swollen. Suburbs were created as an alternative, country living in peace just outside the city. Tracts of land became subdivisions, one house often indistinguishable from the next. Small patches of grass surrounding each were well tended to give the facade of country living. The commute to the city was in its infancy and residents became comfortable and complacent with the standard of living.

Fast forward more than fifty years and the suburbs have changed completely. The cities, once neglected and crime ridden, have undergone a revival. With fifty years of relative peace we have established a country separate from the rest of the world fueled by fossil fuels. Our needs have grown to the point that it will be impossible to sustain the life we're used to living with the amount of fossil fuels in the world.

This is becoming clearer and clearer. In the coming years it will become glaringly obvious. Serious problems will arise when the amount of fuel will not be able to satisfy society's want for it.

There are no alternative fuels. The energy and power it takes to make them outweight their output. Biofuel, Hydrogen and the like will not solve any problems.

Right now there is no solution. Our economy, our entire country has been supported by the idea of an unended stream of fuel. Unfortunately, that idea has never been real.

Many are aware of this that use it as a reason to go to war. Preempting the great struggle for the last remnant of fossil fuels, the US has entered the Middle East under the premise of either vengeance, imperialism or nation building (still can't figure that one out). Turning Iraq into a puppet state will be the first step towards the Project for a New American Century's plan.

The PNAC, aware of the dire times ahead based on a changing society due to lack of oil and fuel believe the world would be better served being an AMERICAN world. This doesn't entail an archaic and suicidal conquering of nations that disagree with the idea but rather the pervasive influence of American culture throughout the globe- American politics, American ideaologies, American way of life. Why? Because it's the best, that's why.

Why should the world be a series of undeveloped, unstable countries with diverse histories, cultures and languages? Wouldn't it be easier to make the world a collection of American states and territories all friendly or, at least, kept in check with American culture?

That's what the PNAC hopes for. This is the most ambitious and far reaching goal ever attempted in history. To reach it requires generations of war, countless streams of propaganda and a complacent, well fed and distracted people.

When the American way of life starts to falter as the fuel runs out people will become desperate and cling to what they believe is their natural right long after it becomes possible to continue living that way. They will do whatever it takes to keep their life just as it always has been, in spite of the world changing about them. They will fight for it, steal, go to war and elect maniacs that will lie to comfort them and do whatever it takes to stay in power.

They want us to fight Democrat or Republican and argue about blowjobs versus vacation time and lose sight of what is being planned around us. We should be inured to war so it can continue and become a part of our life.

We are undergoing a major society change and we're only at the beginning. Many people feel they can live just as their parents did, just as their grandparents did and that's impossible now.

Days like this; uninterrupted blue skies, heavy heat and sun that bakes your skin and I can only think of playing the Ramones.

It's going to be a long summer unless I get the AC hooked up. Sweating profusely lately. I lose a lot of weight in the summer and working out in the extra room that becomes a sauna within fifteen minutes doesn't make it any better.

Got back from N. IL early this morning after attending another birthday/pool party/barbecue. Great time but I have to stop and wonder how I got into this. I was never someone that had a whole group of friends now it seems every minute of my spare time is accounted for. I like it but it's a big change.

Music I'm listening to:

The Cramps
Common People- William Shatner
Mercyful Fate- Metallica
New Rosa- Manic Hispanic

Right now- Goodbye Saigon- Billy Joel

It has been more than a year since I moved here. Last year at this time I was feeling tragic. Now I feel very fortunate. I've got a good place that's been bought by someone that gives a shit and is renovating. It's summer, everything is beautiful, I've got a lot of friends, my workouts are paying off and I'm back in shape. I'm not as muscular but I'm leaner and I'm just as strong.

Spent the Fourth with A at her friend's place. It was her friend's birthday and we celebrated by going to a water park, having a barbecue and going to a fair to see the fireworks. I only got mildly burned.

Time is passing along quickly. I'm doing more and the work is starting to pay off. I doubt I'll ever get complacent but it's times like this that make it tempting.

A year ago I was feeling very morbid. I couldn't imagine myself a year from now and, if I did, it wouldn't have been pretty. I figured I would be dead. More and more I feel like that was a different person. I always refer to it as "Me- then" and "Me- now". There's that much of a difference. I want to go back and meet that guy, have a long talk.

After my head injury as a kid everyone thought I would have a different outlook on life and change how I lived. I didn't because I didn't really have any outlook. I was only twelve years old. What would I need to change? I look back then not on mistakes I need to amend or regrets but I needed to change and I think it's complete. I still feel shades of what I used to be and I fight them, I'm sure they'll always be there, but it would be harder to change what I've become since then to fight off the old tendencies.