regarding the epic beach adventure of two thousand aught eight

[I was at the shore for about a week or so. I kept a journal in a spiral notebook, which you can read below. It's mostly just a list of what albums kept me company. The weather was nice too.]

8/8/8 (this is significant). Pre-flight entertainment (actually, I drove)
-The Mountain Goats - Nine Black Poppies
-Bruce Springsteen - Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.
-Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle

the 1st trip to Brigantine.
-Soltero - Hell Train
-Against Me! - Searching For a Former Clarity (important bridge music! See "Even at Our Worst...", "Problems")
-Minus the Bear - Menos el Oso
-Allister - Before the Blackout

...then I sat in front of a stranger's house and read and wrote and waited.


the morning after, wasted and ready (for butter/croissants)
-Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
-Protest the Hero - Sequoia Throne Remix EP

a boy had a boogeyboard with a great white shark on it. According to Eric, G.W.s mate off the coast of New Jersey. I can only assume that the boy was sexed to death and eaten. Later, watched The Office season 3. Jim is a womanizer. Acetaminophen takes the edge off of my hangover.

"Urkel, did you shit on the floor again?"
"Did I do that?"
*laughter*
"Got any cheese?"
*applause*


the 1st trip to N. Wildwood and/or Stone Harbor
-Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady

Garden State Parkway S
exit 6 - N. Wildwood
147E
2 bridges
L blue roof
2404 147E
2nd building

New Yorkers hate turn signals, breaking distances.

adventure
-Songs to Wear Pants To - stwpt 2

Olympics world records with new suits. Bernie Mac died.

sleeping
-The Cure - Disintegration

rescuing Maria from hurricane
-The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers - The Mother of Love Emulates the Shapes of Cynthia

watching the horizon
-The Rentals - The Last Little Life EP
-The Gaslight Anthem - Senor and The Queen
-Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros - Global A-Go-Go

driving to Stone Harbor. Saw Pineapple Express.
-Bjork - Debut

diner for breakfast. hair in the butter. straight, not mine.

more skylines
-Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros - Rock Art and the X-Ray Style

"It came along this way: We were a strange bunch of kids." Richard Brautigan - Trout Fishing in America, p. 37.

-New Found Glory - Tip of the Iceberg

Michelle's car to Stone Harbor
-Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

Stone Harbor shops were a bust, but found a cool vegetarian restaurant, Green Cuisine. Orange Sunrise smoothie tastes like starburts/skittles. California sandwich: avocado, veggies, cheese. rye. fruit on the side. so good! asparagus dill. also good! chocolate peanut butter cake. also good!

NJ liquor stores are awful.

-Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros - Streetcore
-Against Me! - New Wave

driving to pick up Sam from Avalon
-Protect: A Benefit for the NACP

Reading Brautigan
-The Aquabats - Charge!!
-The Clash - London Calling

people gather on sand dunes, away from the lifeguards. private islands made public. Went to Green Cuisine again. Mediterranean pizza and iced black tea. Pesto, mozzarella, artichoke hearts, and roasted red peppers on a pita, w/ fruit on the side!

-The Beatles - Revolver
Michelle just left. Focus on reading.

The water is gorgeous from a distance, blue slighted by gray. Sky is soft today. Gentle breeze. Still bitter about the $1 toll to get into Stone Harbor, but it doesn't matter. The bay is a mix of depths - I could sink forever here, hit sand 6 inches in there. Finished Trout Fishing in America. The title is symbolic for a lot of things, including war protesters, hobos, children, sex, and actual fishing.

-Ben Kweller - On My Way
-Starting Brautigan's The Pill vs. the Springhill Mine Disaster. It's poetry.

"I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace."

Richard Brautigan - "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace"
[NOTE: REMEMBER SKYNET!]


-Big D and The Kids Table - Strictly Rude

"When you take your pill / it's like a mine disaster. I think of all the people / lost inside of you." Richard Brautigan - "The Pill vs. the Springhill Mine Diaster," p. 100
Finished the poems. Some of them were gorgeous, and some of them were about Brautigan's dick. Boat leaving a purple wake before the sun sets. Started Brautigan's In Watermelon Sugar.
-The Bouncing Souls - The Bouncing Souls

Michael Phelps is an Olympic champion. I love how I'm watching the Olympics for the first time since like Atlanta, and it's in a country whose government I absolutely condemn.
-Flaming Lips - Soft Bulletin



Today is National Southpaw Day, according to ESPN. Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan were both left-handed. I feel good about that.

-Guster - Lost & Gone Forever
-Band of Horses - Cease to Begin

finished In Watermelon Sugar. Brautigan was a crazy bastard. Started Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs.
-Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue

...gave up on Naked Lunch. 10 pages in, I really couldn't give two shits about heroin culture.

The drive home.
-Sleater-Kinney - All Hands on the Bad One
-KingGOD - Is That Blood on Your Sleeve?
-CSS - Donkey