Broseph Riggs and I are now 100% on board for Bonnaroo this year.

(Performer list to follow.  Bands I’m going to do my damndest to see are in BOLD.)

The Police • Tool • Widespread Panic • The White Stripes • Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals • Wilco • The Flaming Lips • MANU CHAO Radio Bemba Sound System • The String Cheese Incident • Franz Ferdinand • Ornette Coleman • Bob Weir & Ratdog • Damien Rice • Ween • Gov’t Mule • Ziggy Marley • The Decemberists • The Roots • Kings of Leon • Michael Franti and Spearhead • Wolfmother • Regina SpektorThe Black Keys • Galactic • • DJ Shadow • Gillian Welch • Spoon • Keller Williams (WMD’S) • Sasha & John Digweed • STS9 • Old Crow Medicine Show • North Mississippi Allstars • The Hold Steady • Lily Allen • Fountains Of Wayne • Hot Tuna • Feist • Hot Chip • John Butler Trio • El-P • Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys • Aesop Rock • The Richard Thompson Band • Dierks Bentley • James Blood Ulmer • Xavier Rudd • David Bromberg and Angel Band • Gogol Bordello • Junior Brown • Tortoise • T-Bone Burnett • Mavis Staples • Clutch • The New Orleans Klezmer Allstars • Cold War Kids • Dr. Dog • Paolo Nutini • Brazilian Girls • RX Bandits • The Nightwatchman • The Slip • Girl Talk • Railroad Earth • Martha Wainwright • Yard Dogs Road Show • Rodrigo y Gabriela • Annuals • Tea Leaf Green • Sam Roberts Band • The National • Elvis Perkins in Dearland • Charlie Louvin • Sonya Kitchell • The Wild Magnolia Mardi Gras Indians • Mute Math • Apollo Sunshine • Uncle Earl • The Little Ones • Black Angels • Ryan Shaw •

PS - The comedy tent like whoa - Lewis Black & Friends • Dave Attell • David Cross • Flight of the Conchords •

Haha, I won’t make this a long, drawn out rumination (my five minute speeches anyone?) but I’ll make it my priority to be terse and to-the-point.

Guys - Put yourselves out there.  It doesn’t matter how many times you get shot down, there’s always that one who will see you for who you are and take you up on it.  You have to put yourself out there first, though!  Seriously, practice some compliments on the hot girl who works the register at Wal-Mart.  The next time you bump into a girl you’re properly interested in, you’ll be ready!

Addendum - Guys, if a girl randomly texts you to join her at the bar.  YOU FUCKING GO.  Period.

Welp, it’s official.

I’m a corporate whore.

I realize it’s been a while since my last update, but I’ve been pretty much in nonstop career mode ever since I arrived home from my side-trip to Japan. Things are now starting to come together for me here, and now that I’ve secured myself an important position within the company, I can tone it back a little bit and start to relax.

So for those who don’t know already, I started working for the local newspaper The Gaylord Herald Times as and advertising sales associate. Most of my work consisted of an approximate ass-load of clerical/office stuff combined with keeping two sales agents and a graphic designer on task and up to date. Six weeks after I started that position, I was approached by my department manager and asked to consider a different position that had recently become available for the online division of The Northern Michigan Review Inc., which is the Michigan umbrella company for Schurz Communications.

Needless to say - I leapt at the opportunity. I updated my resume, put together one of the finest cover letters I’ve ever crafted, and went through a three-step interview/promotion process. As of this Monday, I’m officially 100% (the past two weeks have been a transition period) on board with online, and I’m now the sole online advertiser for the online editions of The Petoskey News-Review, The Gaylord Herald Times, and our newest offering MiSeasons. It’s exciting and pretty nerve-wracking at the same time. I finally feel like I’m building a solid career foundation at this point, but I’m also THE ONLY GUY IN THE ENTIRE DEPARTMENT. With that in mind, I’ve been told in no uncertain terms that the success of our online advertising pretty much rests on my shoulders at this point.

Haha, scary. Well, maybe not scary per-se, but definitely tense. The plus side to this is that if I am able to grow our market share to a profitable enough point, I’ll be transitioning into department management!!! It’s really flattering that my bosses have recognized any sort of potential in me. It’s even moreso when they say that they’re interested in grooming you for a department supervisory position. I guess all that’s left for me to do is make sure I get to the point where that’s what happens!

As far as my day-to-day goes, I’m just gearing up on some advertising campaigns for our largest advertisers and getting ready for my first business trip to South Bend, Indiana. I work out of two offices, the Herald Times office in Gaylord and the News Review office in Petoskey. The people I work with are great, and have been an absolute pleasure to deal with every day. Everyone seems excited to have me on board and my enthusiasm for the work I’m doing seems to be infectious.

My future plans are a little grey at this point as I’m still recovering from my past two weeks of non-stop driving and training my replacement at the GHT. Now that things are a little tamer, I’ll hopefully be able to have a little more fun. I’m still trying to get out to either Bonnaroo or the World Electronic Music Festival (if it even happens this year), but I think I’ll have to delay Burning Man YET AGAIN! Oh well, by the time I actually make it it’ll probably be some shitty little carnival in the desert (yeah right).

Umm, socially things are going good. I still head down to Ferris every now and then to catch up with my buddies who still haven’t graduated. I’d also like to start catching up with Mary, Michelle, and everyone else down in the Detroit area since I’ve been a complete shitheel and neglected them ever since I came back. Dating up here has been a real challenge since I’m pretty damn picky when it comes to dating, and it seems like you can’t really be like that when everyone up here’s ALREADY MARRIED F.F.S.!!! Seriously guys, whatever happened to waiting until you were 30? Haha, all jokes aside, though I’ve had a few nice dates with some lovely ladies, but nothing too serious. I’m pretty much just shopping around at this point (haha, how tacky did that sound?) and I’m still holding out hope that I’ll meet an educated, funny, and beautiful young lady up here. That’s not too much to ask for, is it?

As far as my current “self-improvement” goals for the future go… I’m going to try to enroll at North Central to get my M.B.A.! I’ve decided that my current B.A. is not sufficient for what I want to do with my career, and I’m in the perfect position to start working towards that right now. I’m also still working on taking care of my body as much as possible. Total weightloss so far has totaled ~65lbs and I’m still dropping!!! Haha, I started going to the gym three days a week at the beginning of January and I’ve already started building up some substantial muscle mass. It’s been a long hard road but I have to say that making sure I take care of my body has been the greatest decision I’ve ever made in my life. I have no doubt that my recent promotion, dating success, and overall awesome outlook on life has had a lot to with my change in lifestyle. I still drink myself into a coma every now and again, I rock faces just as hard as before, and I’m still eating terrible food - but I’m putting in the work to make up for it! Now let’s just see if I can’t lose the rest of this and start looking even better!

Well if any of you still check on this thingy for updates, thanks for your patience! I know I’m unreliable -at best- when it comes to updating my blogs, but I do my best! Rock on young folks!

Yup, you read that right.

I’m the newest member of the advertising team at the Gaylord Herald Times. My job is to work with a team of two ad sales reps and one graphic designer to keep the team managed, on sales targets, and to cover for any of them when they’re not in/overworked. The pay is better than Nova, but not by much. HOWEVER, the benefits make it a sweet deal (I never thought I’d be so enthused about health-care).

I’m just stoked to be doing something related to digital media and to be done with that god-forsaken English teaching gig. Japan was an… interesting time. I don’t regret moving there and getting some closure on that chapter in my life, but I’m done with that country and I don’t anticipate having it influence my future any time soon.

I’m out for now, the slopes are open and I just ground the edges of my snowboard. HOLLA!!!

Okay, I’m alive.

I’m in Gaylord.

I’m updating my demo reel, sending it out, and hoping for work.

You can hope with me too if you think it will help!

Haha, maybe I didn’t, but I’m making sure I update this bad boy at least once a month instead of letting it lapse completely.

Anyway, there’s not much new to report except for well… A LOT!  So I’ve been in Japan for about 5 months now, and I’ve reached a final conclusion.  This place isn’t for me.  I’ve had a blast here, and I am presently enjoying the time being spent here but, in the end, this is not where I want to be six months from now.  I’ve spent some time evaluating what I desire most, and the answer is that I want a career.  Japan will always hold a special place in my heart, but I don’t love it so much that I can let the five years I spent in college to work in video production mean nothing.  I’ve got a talent, and I’d be selling myself short if I didn’t make the most of it.

So what does this mean then?  Only one thing my friends!!!  In early January I’ll be making the move from Osaka, Japan to Los Angeles, California!  That’s right, I’ve decided to throw caution to the wind, and make the move that will either make or break my post-college career.  By that point I’ll have been out of the market for a year, but I’ll chalk up my time away to fostering a sense of closure on something that’s been more of an open wound than anything else for the past few years.  I’ve got to start getting serious about my life and the time to do that is now!

Haha, upon rereading the hot mess that I’ve just typed, I’ve got to say that I’m disappointed.  I thought I could do a better job of putting together a coherent post on only 4 hours of sleep in the past few days.  Long story short, the entire concept of this move is stressin’ me~!

I’d like to say that I’ll be hitting you guys with updates soon, but we all know that it would be a filthy lie.  I’ll hit you guys up with details withing thirty days at the very least!!!

L.A. or BUST!!!

Yo yo yo kiddies, I know that my promises of a proper update have been nothing more than thinly veiled lies, but (in my defense) I have been busy… watching TV.

Now that my internet connection is established, I’ve spent the past two weeks downloading episodes of television shows EN MASSE. I just checked my Newsgroup App and I’ve pulled down a total of 75gb in TWO WEEKS! Haha, Ross and I are TV junkies at this point, and it feels good to be jacked back into the world.

My birthday was a fabulous adventure. Brats, Mexican beer, yakiniku, yakisoba, Pringles, Dortios, takoyaki, Asahi, Chu-Hais… we had it all. I didn’t have my camera ready, but my friends took a lot of photos that I’ve been meaning to collect for a while. Once I do I’ll be sure upload them so you can approve of my excess and debauchery. The group of us totaled to about thirty or so, and I was really happy to have my good friend Toshiya make it out for the special event. Although I’ve been here for about four months, the 4th was only the second time I got to hang out with him, but every time I see the guy, we have a blast.

As far as the job goes, it’s just a job. Probably the best paying and easiest job I’ve ever had. A lot of people hate it, but I’ve not reached that point yet. I guess I might at some point in the future, but I’m not really sweating it at this point. I’m content to just punch out a three to eleven shift and keep living my life.

Well that’s it as far as news goes for now. I’m trying to get my finances in order as far as loan repayment goes, but at this point I’m doing quite well with my budget and hopefully I can put in some overtime and pull in a bit more each month. Well see, though. Heh.

Well I’m out kids, I’ve got to set up the apartment for a D&D session. Haha, I haven’t played the game in years, but there are a few boys here who were in the mood and I figured what the hell.

Hey guys, I’m back online and ready for action satisfaction!  Things are pretty chill out here in YAO right now, but tomorrow will probably change all that.  We’re having a big 4th of July/birthday shin-dig out at Osaka castle park, complete with fireworks, brats, and mexican beer.  TRADITON STAYS STRONG!!!  Haha, I’ll hit you guys with a better update, right now I’m about to go to sleep and wait in rapt anticipation for the upcoming asshattery.  LATERS!!!

I am drunk as a skunk and I happened to have a laptop with me. I just want you guys to know that it’s only two more weeks before I have internets and I can update you guys with more frequency.

YEAH BEEYOtHECSE~!

Wow, sorry it’s been such a long time since I’ve updated this bad boy, but things have taken a turn for the interesting within the past month (to say the least).  Before I go into over a month’s worth of catching up tomorrow, I’ll just let you guys know that I’m in Nishi Yamamoto (A suburb of the city o’ Yao) with Ross and we’re in our new apartment - alive.

So now, the details of my absence…

As you already know, I was being kicked out of my apartment in Shin Osaka due in part to the previous shenanigans of my former roommates, and also in part to my general asshattery upon arrival.  While I got along with the two guys well enough, we didn’t really have all that much in common aside from the desire to knock back a few beers every now and again.  Once the move-out date drew near, however, tensions began to increase as they began to demand more and more out of me as a roommate, specifically regarding the cleaning of the apartment for moving out.  Long story short, I wasn’t going to clean two years worth of filth because I happened to live with them for two months. No way, no how.  I’d help, but I’ll be damned if I have to chip in for a disposal fee for a broken toaster, three broken chairs, a snowboard, and a bunch of other stuff they had to get rid of prior to moving out.

The one highlight of my last weeks in Shin-Osaka was a visit from one of my fantabulous JCMU friends, Mary.  She came all the way up to visit us from Kumamoto and spent a whirlwind 5 days/4 nights with us. We partied it up, went out on the town a few times, and had what one could refer to as a most excellent adventure.  She was a blast to see, and I’m glad she made it.

On a sadder note, my other JCMU compatriot, Michelle (aka - Butachan), left Japan only a few days later to return back to Michigan.  I hadn’t gotten to see her as much as I would’ve liked to due to conflicting schedules and whatnot, but the times we did rock out were hella‘ fine indeed.  That girl is a machine when it comes to showing the kids how to kick it like a rockstar.

Now here’s where things get interesting…

Between those two major events, and me moving out of my apartment, I spent only the equivalent of $100.  The reason I spent so little is because I am POOR AS HELL!  Haha, I wish it weren’t so, but it’s true.  I’ve been sending money home out of my paychecks to cover the cost of my loan repayment (which is pretty steep, to be certain).  Combine this with the fact that I’m paying double rent for two months (due to my old apartment paying rent at the end of the month, and my new apartment charging at the beginning of the month) and you’ve got a situation like the one I’m in now ($30 to get me through for two weeks).  Haha, that’s what I get for spending all my money I brought with me on going out and acting like a fool.

Things aren’t bleak, however.  I’ve got more than enough food to last me until then, I’m in a great city, and I’ve got some good friends here for moral support.  The next month and a half will be a trial, but hey it’s going to make a good story.  Unfortunately, the only thing I don’t have is intarweb access.  I’m actually writing this in notepad at my apartment, and submitting this via wireless that I have to walk out of my apartment to get access to.  I’ll try to resume a normal posting schedule, but I wouldn’t hold my breath until I get internet access up and running.  As always, thanks for keeping tabs on this thing despite my infrequent posts.  Love ya’ kids