uh, hello? i forgot my mantra.

first off, i'll get the important {pretentious/calculated} stuff out of the way by listing the albums i can't stop listening to at the moment_

Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
The Walkmen - A Hundred Miles Off
Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts of the Great Highway
Wilderness - Vessel State
Bjork - Homogenic
Neko Case - The Tigers Have Spoken
Cat Power - The Greatest
Regina Spektor - Soviet Kitsch
Sleater-Kinney - The Woods***

numerous events over the past several days. including, but not limited to;

a few of us folks from work got our camping hang on beneath the profile of mt. hood on saturday night. it was an evening of consummate relaxation; something i realized i don't necessarily reward myself with enough. asmund provided the campfire and sage advice, ruth did the storytelling and saw through my bullshit ramblings, stephanie and her brother slept and read the entire time, and i probably made some arrogant and tactless remarks about postmodernism or something. basically, i think i'm fitting in well here.

sunday was blocked out for a tubing trip down the Clackamas river. as luck would have it, one of the guys in attendance, naomi's roomate's friend, scott, is an architect with allied works. he also went to the university of kansas. he's also the guy i made a fool out of myself by making some flippant remark about ku when i interviewed with allied back in april. predictably, the joke didn't amuse him at all, and i proceeded to look elsewhere for a job. needless to say, the encounter served as my daily dose of humility. thank god he didn't remember who i was.

in more arbitrary news, i've only been drinking americano's lately, not drip coffee. i have no clear explaination why.

today during my lunch hour i also finished the book i've been digesting lately, house of leaves. i {sort of} feel like i've gotten something out of it, but i also think one of the themes of the book is that it's supposed to fool you into thinking there's something to get out of it. the book aims to disorient and confuse the reader on every level imaginable, and now that i think of it, i may have read it too fast. i'm not sure exactly i predict i'll start it over tonight.

i'll be back in kc for a certain wedding event on august 12th. coincidentally, this is the same weekend sleater-kinney is playing their two last shows {ever} here in portland. i'm not particulary happy about this, but i figure the overall utility gained from attending a wedding between two of the most magnetic and genuine people i have met in recent years, seeing my parents {maybe my brother, too} and some other jerks in the kc scene will be substantially higher than seeing a band perform a few sets.

anyway, the damn pictures won't upload for some odd reason. i'll try another post or something.

***thank god people at my office have some musical taste. some of these new selections are a direct result of this. i also noticed i've been listening to a lot of female-lead bands. thoughts?