shane

nothingtoshow @ 2009-02-14T00:11:00

2009-02-14T08:17:34Z

people still use livejournal?

i read back on the stuff i wrote in like 10th grade and it can be summarized with 4 recurring themes:

1)getting fucked up

2)almost constant swearing

3)skateboarding

4)complaining and being emo - hormones raging

i feel like i've grown up a lot since then..

what i realized was i was a whiny ass bitch back then. i mean, that's generally what people do on livejournal but still.

nostalgia is nice. i looked through my photobucket and found a bunch of old pictures from high school. so wretched. i miss you all.

nothingtoshow @ 2008-06-22T23:14:00

2008-06-23T07:19:39Z

so for the past week or so, i've been on tour with my folk band. this was by far the most epic and insane road trip of my life thusfar. we played 15 shows all over the state in 7 days, spanning 1700 miles, 1 flat tire, a parking ticket, and almost 1300$ in cash, all made exclusively by playing music in the streets. so fun.

we started last monday with a early morning 6 hour drive to arcata. i had been staying at washboard j's house (he plays the washboard, cowbell, slidewistle, etc.) since i moved out from campus and that place is a trip and a half on its own. random 30 something hipster fixed gear dudes crashin on the couch, xbox all hours of night and a diet that consists of 95% beer. all and all, good times with nothing to do. brady and i (he plays banjo) had been sleeping there for a couple of days when monday rolled around. we packed the car full of shit, got a quad and were off for arcata with the money we'd been saving from playing on pacific in santa cruz. we left at like 9 or so and arrived in a misty arcata around 4 pm. arcata is a beautiful place, and oh so peaceful, it reminded me of the sunset district in san francisco mixed with an almost small town european town feel. and of course, theres tons of dank herb in the area too.. we played in the town square there and froze our asses off (the only time our sleeping bags would really get put to use) and made an alright pittance for our music, got dinner at some pizza/doughnuts place then ended up staying with a friend of a friend of a friend crashing in an empty bedroom.

next day we were off to chico to play an afternoon show. as we crossed over and through the mountains, it got hot as fuck. (humboldt has idyllic weather this time of year) with fred(accordion player) driving, around noon, we got a flat in some hot ass buttfuck nowhere place. luckily with some inginuity and a lot of effort, we managed to switch the tire and get to the next town on the spare. we pulled into the nearest service station to find out a new tire was like 75$. obviously, that wasnt gonna happen. we went a little further down the road and got a super sketch studded winter tire (which is actually illegal to drive on during the summer) for 25$ no questions asked. with that taken care of, we were back on the road, flying off at top speed through the central valley on our way to chico. we get there and make a whopping 15$. a 6 hour drive including delays for such a small amount of money left our confidence shaken and our morale low. this was only day 2 of our journey and although it started out alright, it seemed like things were going south fast. things changed however once we got to nevada city.

with sunken spirits, we pulled into the small town which still retained much of its wild west charm. there was a lively local bar scene on one street and masonic emblems were emblazoned into just about every surace within a 10 foot radius of anything. we proceeded to set up on a corner randomly and give it our best shot. despite the tiny size of the town the response we got was nothing short of incredible, as within 2 songs, we had a crowd of about 50 people watching. people were shouting and clapping from the balcony across the street and there was one guy who was dancing in front of us as he dropped dollars into the accordion case. (people really love to dance and try to talk to us while we're playing our sets, which is always rather amusing). people pulled over from driving to watch us, and some of them even stopped in the middle of the street. we made about 90$ from our set and gave those people everything we had, feeding off of each other's energy. after the set, it was like we had an orgasm, as we were all completely exhausted. we picked up a 6 pack of beer and headed to fred's aunt's farm in grass valley.

as the night unfolded beneath the full moon and quiet fields, we sat outside after the epic feast prepared for us by fred's aunt. EVERYTHING fresh, fresh beef, fresh milk, fresh bread, cheese everything... it was paradise. throughout the trip actually, we all ate extremely well.
in the morning we toured the farm and said our goodbyes as we headed off for san francisco. as we tore down the highways as fast as we could in our crowded altima and the weather got hotter and hotter with every mile as we approached what we believed was the epicenter.

our first stop was berkeley, and this was the first time in a long while that i had seen black people en masse. it was very refreshing to see such diversity,i must say i missed it. we played 2 sets in berkeley and both were less than well recieved, but taught us a valuable lesson that didn't really sink in until the end of the tour,

1)tourists will not pay attention to you because all they want is a photo of "attractions"

2)commuters will not give you the time of day because all they want to do is get where theyre going

3)the day is a terrible time to street peform ( its hot as fuck and people are NOT about to stand in the sun to watch you no matter HOW good your music is)

as we headed for the city across the epic bay bridge, we began to feel the toll the tour was taking on us as our hands began to bleed and our instruments took a beating. we also felt the heat from a fire right next to the road as we passed through the north bay.

we arrived in san francisco and headed downtown to try our luck at union square. surprisingly, as the hour got later, people were more and more responsive. our energy increased as the sun went down. with all this playing, our music also began to tighten. cues came more naturally, errors were more subtle, singing was louder, clearer and better than before, songs were played faster and with new interesting twists. all and all, we did fairly well in san francisco.

that night we stayed with my friend karen at her house and drank whiskey and blazed like no other. it was nice to sleep in a bed again for once. the next day we woke up to try our hand and our skills on san francisco again. this time we decided to try the more tourist filled areas such as the wharf and embarcadaero. bad idea. people took pictures of us, but weren't really interested in our music as much as the spectacle of 4 young men yelling strangle lyrics and playing absurd instruments. once again, there was a drop in morale and a spike in the temperature as things began to go sour once again. we listened to music and smoked bowls to pass the time. that evening, we played in menlo park, washboard j's hometown. the crowd was really surprised and i will never forget the look of shock and terror i saw when i looked to my left and saw a small asian woman reeling in fear from our music. hilarious. brady's vocal solo on "hold me close" made me do a double take it was so loud. j and i just glared at each other in disbelief.

we slept at washboard j's house and were served excellent burgers by his sister who strangely reminds me of two girls from santa cruz i know put together. one is a violent tomboy and the other is a future homemaker. strange combination indeed. we took turns on the piano and were off to bed.

next stop on the trip was santa cruz. this was also a mistake because 1) we played during the day, and two, santa cruz is absolutely dead during the summer. don't go there. its boring. we found a homeless guy who was super down with our music though. he remembered not only who we were, but some of our names, song titles and lyrics. to be honest, i was a little creeped out. but he did pretty awesome work by telling random people to watch us. we hooked him up with some of the money we made there and got lunch. the show in SC went pretty bad because there were no people, but financially, we didnt really need the money anyways. by this point, we had already made more money then we started the tour with (500$) and were pretty much set, but we pressed onward. that evening we headed for santa barbara and got there super late because of some fire based detours that had to be taken. we played on state st in front of a movie theatre and got a pretty good response but it was there that the heat began to take its toll on us. we were all drenched in sweat by the end of the set as a result of the humidity. some reporter from univision wanted to do a story on us, but we told her we weren't interested. throughout the duration of the tour, we changed our names several times. we all knew this would be the last time we'd be playing together for a really long time anyways, so we pretty much just did not give a fuck and went buck wild.we had multiple names, sailing south, anchors away, the hollow mountain hound dogs, the billygoat bastards, anything that would get peoples attention and that could be said without having to be repeated. we slept in a bro - gnar house that belonged to one of j's friends. isla vista is beautiful, but at the same time, disgusting and outrageous. i have never seen so much debauchery in one place, but all and all, santa barbera was fun.

saturday morning we smoked a fat joint with justins friend and played with his dog on this nice little lawn overlooking a cliff. it was sunny and warm, but not too much so. we had been eaten alive the previous night by all the bugs and nasty things in the moist santa barbara air. after a few stoney delays, we were off and headed down further south to Los angeles, the promised land. it was hotter than a fuck when we got there. we played right down on venice beach first. we got a prime parking spot one block from the beach and set up over by the skatepark and the grassy areas on a little corner. we only played half our set because it was super hot, but we ended up making about 36 dollars. the most important part was that people were SUPER down for our music, but it was just too goddamn hot to keep going. after we packed up we saw some other UCSC students and chatted it up for a bit, this was a mistake because as we were walking back to the car, we ended up with a fat parking ticket. 40$. not chill.another appropriation of band money. next stop was hollywood. we parked at hollywood and highland and set up next to the other street performers. we played a few songs but gave up in disgust, after we realized that wolverine and spiderman were making more money than we were, and that this was just a waste of energy with still one more set to go. we ended up leaving and heading to pasadena. it was here that my hometown came through for me, as we broke our single session playing record. 130$ + 4 beers for a set of music. old town was bustling and the sidewalk was lined with people who were down with our music. the feeling was indiscribable. afterwards, we slept at victors.

finally, sunday was for san diego and the end of our tour. we headed down there and played in balboa park. things were finally starting to cool off and the drive was almost tolerable. the car felt less crowded despite there being more shit in there and it was starting to dawn on all of us that this tour would soon be over. we gave them everything we had one last time and even though we were all tired, hurt and our instruments were fucked, we played hard and gave them a good set. some of our songs were faster than ever before. the washtub bass was ruined pretty much by the end of the tour, it had a crack in it the hole in the bottom was getting bigger and the rope kept coming loose, but nevertheless, i continued to bust as hard as i could on that thing until the very end. we played one last stop, and that was at brady's grandparents house for his brother's birthday. it was kind of cheesy, but the food was amazing, so i couldn't complain. brady's family was extemely kind and so were all the people we met along the tour.
so many people helped us and in the end we had about 700$ to split amongst the 4 of us. we did alright and the craziest thing was ALL OF THIS was paid for ENTIRELY by just playing music on the streets. i drove back from SD to pasadena and the ride on the 15 was beautiful with roaring downhills and epic vistas of valleys and hills. as i write this now, i know that somewhere out there, justin and fred are still driving hustling back to santa cruz.

and now i am tired

nothingtoshow @ 2008-05-19T23:37:00

2008-05-20T06:40:19Z

its so hard to do ANYTHING that requires motivation anymore. SO lazy, so over school. i dont want to look for housing but i know it must be done.FUCK. life is so stressful. i want a new tattoo and i want to make a new stencil.

nothingtoshow @ 2008-05-06T00:23:00

2008-05-06T07:38:07Z

so i have to study for my midterm at 10 am and i've yet to start. fuck a linear algebra. im bout to stay up all night doing that, studying i suppose. i need to work on my program too, but since it got pushed back to Thursday, i'm feeling rather ambivalent so i'll procrastinate on that as well. tonight was my first foray into stencils. my work came out kinda shitty, but its a start. im gonna try to do a fat project in the coming weeks and put that shit up all over. suggestions? in other news, i'm almost twenty. i think i've made positive gains in my life since high school but who knows. wiser and more benevolent in my old age i hope. in addition, last week, the jug-band i'm in for those who are interested made about 95$ on the street in one evening. our dreams of a california tour just may come true at the expense of santa cruz's wealthy and generous. THNANKS! plans for the future:

-more bike

-more tag

-more music

-more skate

yepp.

as you can see, my stencil work needs, well, work, but hell, its on its way. made that shit in less than an hour so i think it came out pretty good.

nothingtoshow @ 2008-04-28T17:21:00

2008-04-29T00:22:06Z

why is riding a bike really more addictive (and probably almost as expensive) as doing drugs?

nothingtoshow @ 2008-03-18T22:36:00

2008-03-19T05:37:51Z

first 2 finals pwned my life. tommorow, mad amounts of studying for computer science. i just want to pass the classes i took this quarter and get them behind me. SO horrible.

nothingtoshow @ 2008-03-18T02:13:00

2008-03-18T09:14:13Z

now to just charge through finals week and be done with this nonsense. why is this shit just getting exponentially harder and harder though? FUCK computers. i'm tired of them, and this class has actually made me hate math, something i thought was impossible. i guess i'm just frustrated because i dont understand and i dont understand because i don't have time to process my work in a leisurely manner. next quarter comes the big guns though, algorithms and abstract data types. should be fun, assuming i can get into the class. and i'm finally declaring my major? i guess i'm gonna officially be Computer Science soon. tite.

nothingtoshow @ 2008-03-03T23:03:00

2008-03-04T07:07:15Z

being on the radio was so fun. i'm glad we got that chance to play. i think there were some recordings and some podcast business but i'll post those as i get a hold of them. if you want to check out the other songs we have recorded please go to ~~myspace~~ musicspace and listen, the recording is shitty and filled with mistakes but it will give you a taste of what our jugband sound is like. click here to go straight there

in other news, i got fakie smith reverts on the lock after not skating for weeks and my new pride and joy is riding my bike because that shit is fasssst as hell. why have i really fallen prey to the santa cruz hippy lifestyle. it's absorbing me...

nothingtoshow @ 2008-02-21T19:27:00

2008-02-22T03:28:42Z

bout to have my fresh new bike in like a week. in other news, i got destroyed by my math midterm today. shit was extra hard, but i guess i wasn't the only one. C = degree...

nothingtoshow @ 2008-02-13T00:05:00

2008-02-13T08:21:34Z

remember how i promised photos? here they are: all holes filled's first show at the kresge co-op. thanks to Bechon & thisisnotarecordlabel.org. the name is temporary, but the wretched pirate style jams are here to stay! coming soon to a street near you!

nothingtoshow @ 2008-01-31T23:31:00

2008-02-01T07:33:05Z

tonight was the first show of my new band at the kresge co-op. shit was intense. HOPEFULLY pictures soon, but who knows. the tentative name is "all holees filled" and as for the sound, we're somewhere between blackbird raum, beirut and tom waits. i like it. in other news, math midterm today kinda pwned my life. another day, another dollar.

nothingtoshow @ 2008-01-29T20:44:00

2008-01-30T04:49:29Z

the problem with being young and stupid is naivety. if only you had the ability to look at where you stand in life now with the foresight of the future, rather than focusing on your own selfish goals. it's really troubling this problem, and it is the cause of a great deal of stress in your life when you really think about it. so next time you think shit is really hard, or something sucks, take a look back at what you were doing in high school. compare how out of proportion you took the smallest things with the perspective you have now and think about the future. if that was confusing, just reflect on your life. im not professing to be a self help guru, but lately i've been TRYING to make positive changes in my life. mainly studying my ass off and not being unnecessarily dumb any longer. my life is ending one day at a time and its up to ME to make the best of it because no one else is going to do it for me. (although these maxims seem like common sense, you'd be surprised how difficult it is to follow such simple advice) and with that, i begin my discrete math homework.

nothingtoshow @ 2008-01-18T00:16:00

2008-01-18T08:29:26Z

you try to get away from bad things, but they always seem to come back to haunt you. escape is an esoteric concept for those imprisoned by their surroundings. confined to such a small area, couldnt you have found somewhere else to live? somewhere NOT within two blocks of my house? sure, it's convienent, sure its cozy, but its mine and doesn't ownership mean anything in this day and age? say what you will about your motives, whatever they're irrelevant and everyone knows it. the only person you're fooling is yourself. if you keep biting my shit long enough, maybe it'll even bite you back. and dont take this personal either, i'm just venting my frustration on the internet, when i could be shouting into a phone at you or bludgeoning you with a large blunt object. no matter what you do to escape, you can never get away, so what is the purpose of trying? from my experience in prison, i would wager a guess that hope is the only thing that can keep you alive, hope of one day being free of your burden. most prisoners never truly get that, and i suspect i shall not either.

while i'm here,

school has been difficult this quarter, and by difficult i mean FUCKING hard. Data Structures is a sink or swim sort of class and although all the instructions are rather fool proof and explicit, i have a great deal of doubt in my ability to program computers. Math isn't so bad but it's definitely getting more challenging and as for discrete math, i think i'd better stay up on my work. there is definitely no time to dick around this quarter. As far as hobbies and shit go, i've been taken aback by bicycling as of late and am devoting all of my resources into getting a bike and a couple of tattoos. i've also been frequenting the gym but with sickness in the air, i suspect my gains will be short lived. it's all a test, just remember that, and you'll be fine. after writing more, i'm not as pissed about the abovementioned, but i'll have to see how it plays out. im really just shocked. of all the fucking places in the wide fucking world. 2 blocks... thats about 2000 too close.

nothingtoshow @ 2007-08-23T20:24:00

2007-08-24T03:25:51Z

hey, it's funny you were listening to immortal technique because i was too today. "no me importa" and "you never know". two songs that really describe how i feel. try and guess which one pretains to who. and trust me, if i was childish, i'd put the million fucking things that im thinking about right now onto this page. stop acting like a victim when you were the one who committed the rape.

nothingtoshow @ 2007-08-02T00:01:00

2007-08-02T07:05:01Z

livejournal is FAR more entertaining in retrospect. it's way more fun to look back at posts and read them all simultaneously instead of waiting for the story to develop. i've been trying to make some positive ass changes in my life but that shit is extra hard. tried to quit blazing... guess how that went. i made it about 4 days. oh well, better luck next time. but i have started going to the gym frequently and it has made me feel a lot stronger. as for how my life has been since i last updated, i have a job now, i work full time and make quite a fair amount of money and i got a new car, a 2000 chevy s10. shit's pretty legit with the ~~camper~~ stoner shell for nefarious activities. also, i forgot what else i've been up to but i do remember getting kicked in the mouth when i watched the warriors last week. that was fun. i guess the moral of all this is,
dont drive to riverside super faded if you dont know where you're going because you WILL end up in fullerton.

nothingtoshow @ 2007-07-10T02:02:00

2007-07-10T09:02:48Z

why is it that happiness is always found in the strangest of places and people?

nothingtoshow @ 2007-06-03T20:06:00

2007-06-04T03:15:44Z

so what i've been noticing lately is that people have been putting too many eggs into one basket. a lot of people just seem to be putting too much stock into relationships that don't really matter. im not trying to give relationship advice or saying i know your life any better than you do, but i'm just calling them how i see them.
its straight economics really... increase your marginal benefit and make yourself happier. if you're in a relationship and you're not happy, next the person youre with and find someone else. now i'm not saying this should be applied universally in all cases, but if you've been unhappy with your partner for a while, tried to make a change for the better and got no result, i'd say next them. it sounds cold hearted, but if you're not happy with the relationship and your partner knows it, chances are they're not happy either. i'm tired of reading about all these problems in trivial relationships of like <6 months. its foolish. the chances of you finding the person you love in high school are slim to none, not a fun idea to look at, but let's face it, the notion of a "high school sweetheart" is highly fucking outdated. if you don't believe what i'm saying, look at your parents and how happy they are and let that be a measuring stick for your own life. so i guess what i'm trying to say is, relax, have fun, don't take things so seriously and guess what? life will get better :] i guess i'm sort of out of line posting this, but whatever, take it how you want it. i just feel that taking life much slower has improved the quality of my life and made it easier for me to try to do the things i want to do. i can't wait for summer and to go to the gym and see my friends and be happy and healthy. i don't mean to sound all smart and shit either like i know what's up because i really don't. i dont think college has made me that much smarter in terms of books, but it sure as hell has taught me a lot about interacting with people. and for that, i am grateful.

nothingtoshow @ 2007-05-18T03:40:00

2007-05-18T10:44:09Z

boot cut should be renamed gay cut. those pants look rediculous.
i cut my hair, i wasn't satisfied with the way it looked. school is getting
arduous, but i think i'll be able to handle it. ive decided (or at least i'm going to try)
to start taking MORE classes because there are so many subjects that i want to learn about and
so little time to do it in. i guess i'll take 4 next quarter and see how that goes. then there's
transferring. so much to think about, so little time.

nothingtoshow @ 2007-04-11T03:14:00

2007-04-11T10:17:40Z

so i read somewhere the other day, that when you graduate from high school you move up from mentally retarded to mildly retarded, or stupid. this is by and large, one hundred precent true. i was stupid as hell in high school. not to say that i'm much smarter now, i've just realized my ignorance. i guess i've come to terms with myself in a lot of regards and i think im ready for some sort of transition or change. i dont know what i'm going to do or how i'm going to do it, but i definately need to do something, fast.

nothingtoshow @ 2007-03-08T12:48:00

2007-03-08T20:50:32Z

damn so today was so nice. early morning surf session was goin off. and the day is so beautiful! i wish i had more to show but yeah. today will continue to be good, calculus, skating the new skatepark, and enjoying wonderful weather

nothingtoshow @ 2007-02-20T22:22:00

2007-02-21T06:23:24Z

damn, CS is really a hard fucking major.

nothingtoshow @ 2007-01-01T13:06:00

2007-01-01T21:07:20Z

newyears was a trip. did anyone else get drunk and argue with someone's aunt (while the uncle was feeding me more beers) almost resulting in a hasty wedding? because i did...

nothingtoshow @ 2006-10-17T01:48:00

2006-10-17T08:49:21Z

i'm completely and totally fucking over writing these goddamn papers about bull ass shit.

nothingtoshow @ 2006-09-26T12:37:00

2006-09-26T19:39:08Z

so after a rough start and a few mishaps, college is finally starting to shape up. ive been here for a week and i like a lot of the people i met but i do miss pasadena quite a bit. i cant wait to go back home and see all my friends and whatnot

nothingtoshow @ 2006-08-13T12:05:00

2006-08-13T19:08:40Z

found out who my roommate is and where im gonna be staying. im gettin more nervous about leaving everyday