Yippy Skippy

After much stress and aggravation, i finally got a check in the mail from my insurance company as settlement for my car. I made out pretty good all in all. They paid me almost all of what i paid for my car (the settlement was about $415 light), plus sales tax and licensing fees. Not too shabby. The only problem is that a replacement is going to cost me about $3000 more than my car did. Fuck it, it's only money.

Last tuesday, i met Mikey for lunch (well, he ate before we met, so i made a pig of myself while he watched...lol) and then we went car shopping. We took a test drive in the new Audi S4. It has a brand new 7 speed dual clutch S-tronic transmission with paddle shifters. What a blast that thing is to drive! Instant up and down shifts, power to spare, classy machine. The voice control system could use a little work though...lol. I think Mikey is turning into an Audi-phile like me lol. What can i say, he's got class. :P And we looked really awesome driving around in my other car, a semi-ghetto 1999 Pontiac Trans Am. Don't get me wrong, it's a fun car to drive (goes really fast in a straight line), but it looks very dated. And the windshield is cracked. The only thing we were missing were mullets. lol.

I got the pleasure of inspecting an Audi R8 up close and personal. What a sexy machine! That is what a car should be! On saturday, i had to drive up to Seattle to drop off my deposit check for my new car (more on that in a sec), and the dealer had a "used" R8. I got to sit in this one, start it and revel in the beautiful noises the 4.2 litre V8 made as i revved is a few times. I think i'm in love. I wonder if i could sell some internal organs on the black market to finance the purchase of one of those...

Anywho, i ordered a replacement vehicle for my wrecked S5. What did i order? Yep, another Audi S5. It's slightly different from my old S5. I orderd it in Phantom Black Pearl (the old one was brilliant black) and stainless steel interior trim (old was carbon fiber). Just different enough to be interesting and new again, yet comfortable and familiar. Much to my surprise, the 2010 model year brought some much welcomed improvements in the electronics and navigation systems (my old car was an '09). The nav system is now hard drive based as opposed to DVD-ROM. So, access to info stored on the drive is much quicker than it was on the previous system. It also allowed huge improvements to the mapping on the nav screen. It's now displayed in 3D with terrain and a "flying" view rather than just and overhead plan view. The in dash disc player is a single disc drive instead of the 6 disc changer on the old car, but now plays DVD's on the nav screen when parked. The new car also has built in memory card readers in the dash to allow music to be played and transferred to the cars internal hard drive for music anytime! This is on top of the iPod connection and full control of the device via the new MMI (multi media interface) controller. Instead of just having a rotary knob for making selections on menus, it has a little joy stick built in to the center of the knob now as well. Vastly improved functionality. The last improvement comes in the form of a sport differential as part of the Drive Select option. It's an electronically controlled differential that can be set up to allow more aggressive handling through the twisties. I can't wait to toss this car around a bit...lol. I should almost thank that stupid bitch for running into me! Not really though, as it's still costing me moneys. So, in 3 or 4 months i'll be the proud new papa of an S5.

I think i might be mildly retarded. I have had my new MacBook Pro for almost a month now, and i'm still not used to it's operating system. I guess that windows brainwashing is hard to get rid of. I still love the Mac though! What a beautiful piece of engineering it is. I don't regret spending the money on it. I just need to pull my head out of my ass and figure out how to take advantage of all it's potential.

Are you still reading? Wow! I'm impressed! I mean, i'm bored ffs, and i'm the one typing this fucking blather!

Nothing has changed otherwise. I still haven't met anyone, or heard back from a certain someone. I have spent quite a few hours online reading profiles and composing thoughtful emails to guys i'm interested in on a couple of different dating sites and networking sites, and have had no responses. So, what is wrong with me? I mean, i work with a guy who is both fat and ugly (sorry, but its true) and he met a girl on the same dating site i'm using. This chick could be a model ffs! Not only is she good looking, but she's smart too!! He's got the personality of my toe nail clippings, has got to be close to 375 pounds and has a face only a mother could love and he's hooking hotties online. What the fuck am i doing wrong? Where is my smart cutie?

I have been out of control spending money lately. I have spent more money on clothes in the last six months than i probably have i all of my life previously lol. And music...omg. I placed a $425 order from amazon last week. CD's are piling up everywhere, and the rare vinyl (yep, i still buy vinyl records lol) is stacking up too. Oh, yet another new pair of sunnies...really smexy Ray-Ban aviators. If i had a boyfriend, this money would be spent spoiling him lol.

It's been a month since i've had a drop of alcohol. A close friend at work came to the realization he has a problem with drinking. So, his goal was to dry out for a month and see how things go. I offered to quit drinking for a month right along with him as moral support or whatever. Drinking isn't good for me anyway, and it was difficult at first, but i don't really miss it. I do need it as a social lubricant though lol. It tends to mellow me out and loosen me up a bit. Maybe a little now and then wouldn't hurt. :P

THANK YOU JESUS!!! The rain has returned! I am something of a weirdo...i'm quite insane actually. I like cool, cloudy, rainy weather. well, its cool cloudy and rainy outside right now. Classic Seattle weather. I love it! The warm and sunshine we have had here all summer long was wearing a bit thin with me... I guess i'm a true blue Washingtonian. :P

There you have it boys (and girls?). Yet another long, boring post that no one will read! If you have made it all the way to the end, you win a prize of my choosing! What could it be... Lets end this with a song... Dredg are a band i discovered by pure accident a couple of years ago. This song is from their album "El Cielo". This band is amazing. Stellar musicianship, interesting songwriting and crisp production. Each listen reveals something new. I hope you enjoy it!

Kneel and disconnect...

Well, i'm just back* from the Porcupine Tree concert in Seattle (by "just back", i mean several hours ago lol). Wow...what an absolutely amazing show Porcupine Tree put on! I'm not talking about grandiose theatrics, glamor and glitter. Instead i'm talking about the absolute pinnacle of musicianship. Not only is Steven Wilson (Porcupine Trees main songwriter and front man) a musical genius, but all the other members of the band are integral to making the band what it is. Each musician has mastered his craft and the net result is a band that plays super tight and are even better live than they are on the best produced studio album you could imagine.

The show was played at The Moore Theater in Seattle. That venue is one of the most amazing places i have ever seen a concert at. I may be off by a year or two, but i believe the place was built in 1907. What a gorgeous piece of architecture. A anyway, i bought my tickets online directly from the band. I just placed an order for two tickets, and never really had a choice as to where i was going to be seated. Lucky for me, it was a reserved seating venue, not general admission. So, imagine my surprise when i pick up my tickets from will call and see "row A" printed on my ticket. Holy shit!!!! Front row seats to see my favorite band play live!!!!!!! How could this night get any better?!

Well, about 10 minutes before the opening act ("That 1 Guy" - fucking incredible, btw...lol) appeared on stage, a super cute guy caught my eye. Well, imagine my luck when he sat 3 seats away from me. Yeah, he is VERY cute! So, it's pretty easy to start up conversations with people at concerts because everyone is there to see one particular band play. Easy icebreaker. The problem is, there are 2 other people between him and me, and talking across them would be awkward at best. So, i keep stealing glances at him trying not to be too conspicuous, wondering how i can start a conversation with him without looking like a complete twat lol.

So, after That 1 Guy played his amazing set (seriously, his music is indescribable...one man making an incredible amount of music, all on a self made instrument that looks like it was pieced together using scraps of pipe from the Home Depot), there was a brief intermission before Porcupine Tree took the stage. Oooh...maybe i can talk to the cutie! But damn the luck, both people in the seats between us stayed put. Oh well...

For the first half of Porcupine Tree's set, they played their new album "The Incident" from start to finish. Steven Wilson described it as a "song suite", meant to be played and listened to as one continuous piece of music. Being parked two feet from a stack of loudspeakers was great! I could feel a concussion wave with each strike of the bass drum and with each bass note and heavy chord played...fucking awesome! And being 10 feet away from the band and being able to see them all play live was pretty cool too. :P

At the end of the first half of the set, the band took a short intermission. As the lights came up, the two guys sitting between me and cutie got up and left. To where, i don't know and really don't care...this was my chance! So, i slid a few feet over and said "hi" very nervously and awkwardly...lol. I felt so stupid. Guys who i am really attracted to intimidate the hell out of me. I got all clammy and sweaty, despite the fact that i'd been rocking out pretty hard the previous hour and didn't sweat then. Note to self...nerves make me sweat. Back to cutie...after my initial and very awkward hello i asked if he'd seen Porcupine Tree live before, to which he replied no, this was his first time seeing them live. I talked about the last show i saw a little bit, and how this venue was way better. I then asked him how long he'd been listening to them and what his fav song and album were etc. The convo was moving along, but i was nervous as hell and was coming up silent a little to often for me to feel comfortable and that only made me more nervous. So, we eventually started talking about other bands we liked and he mentioned a few i'd never heard of, and i mentioned a few he'd never heard of. Then he mentioned Muse, another one of my favorite bands! Just as he mentioned Muse, the lights went down, and Porcupine Tree took the stage to play the second half of their set.

The second half of the set was just as amazing as the first, and contained a lot of really good songs from their back catalog of material. Again, i really can't stress enough how amazing this band is live! Every song they played had a life of its own, full of power and emotion. And just the sheer difficulty of some of the songs they played inspired awe as they were performed flawlessly. Did i mention this was the opening night of their US tour, and was the first time the band had played any material from the new record, let alone the entire thing? It was pretty cool to be a part of the first audience to hear a new album played live.

After the encore, which was cut short due to some bullshit noise ordinance in Seattle, the lights cam up and i turned to cutie and resumed our convo where we left off. I said, "so Muse is your favorite band eh?". His eyes lit up and he told me they had a new album out as well (which i'd read about, but almost forgot about until he mentioned it). I asked him how it was in comparison to their older material, and he asked what albums i liked best, and i told him in order the ones i liked best. He smiled and said he liked their albums in the same order i liked them. :D Coincidence? lolz. So he described the new record a bit and how it fit in the line up. So, he started to make for the aisle and was saying it was good to talk to me, etc, when i said "I should give you my number so we can talk music!". "Yeah! That would be cool!". So, i introduced myself proper and so did he and we exchanged mobile numbers. :P

Now, i have no idea if he is even gay or not, and i'm not quite sure if he knows i'm gay (probably not, as i look and act pretty straight, although lately i have been dressing a bit more metro lol). But still, i was able to strike up a convo AND get the phone number from a cute guy! Granted, i cheated and used the concert as a conversation starter, but who really cares? I got his number lol! So, if nothing else, i made a new friend. I'm not holding my breath, because he was younger than me, and even if he is gay, probably wouldn't be interested in me in "that way". But i'll take what i can get. A new friend will be nice, and a cute one at that. :p Maybe it's better i went to the show alone. If i'd gone with someone, who knows if i'd have had the opportunity to talk to him, or if whoever i went with would have got to talk to him instead of me...

After that, things went to shit...lol. I parked 8 blocks from the theater to avoid the traffic mess on the streets closer in. I even parked for free, since i got there after 6pm...lucky me! But, as i was driving to the freeway, i got about 1/3 of the way there when traffic stopped. Dead fucking stopped. Gridlocked at 11:15pm on a Tuesday night ffs. It took me 45 fucking minutes to drive the mile to the freeway on ramp. WTF!?! I was about to have a serious road rage episode...lol. No reason for it, no construction, not really anything going on to warrant that level of gridlock hellishness. But i maintained an even strain, thinking of the cute guy who i got to talk to and whose number now resides in my mobile phone...lolz.

On the car front, the insurance rep i'd been dealing with rang me up today and told me she had fought long and hard with the home office, and finally got them to agree to pay me almost what i'd paid for my car, plus sales taxes (9.3% in my county) and licenses and registration fees. All told, i'm getting $415 less for my car than what i paid for it. Plus, the service and maintenance plans and the GAP coverage i bought are all refundable pro-rated to the date of loss. All in all, not too bad. Now to nail the bitch who hit me to the fucking wall with the bodily injury/pain and suffering suit. I want to see her living in a cardboard box under the interstate... *laughs evilly* She picked the wrong guy to run into. -_-

Once again, i shall end my post with a song. This is a cut from Porcupine Tree's newest album "The Incident" called "Time Flies". Pretty good tune, and the videography is pretty interesting too. So, does anyone actually watch/listen to these songs?