2005-03-03 - 7:16 a.m.

>I Hope It's Alright...

Well, my song is being released on a compilation named "Tiger" from the small japanese indie label called object records. It costs 1800 yen - about 21 canadian dollars. A little pricey by my standards, but what do I know? I seldom buy things that aren't cheap. As far as I know, I will never get paid.

I call it "my" song but really it is a collaboration between me and my good friend deseptagon. I don't know what the song's name finally became, i called it "arab_love_song" but that was just a descriptive name, not really a title. So that's exciting.

The story of why I have a goatee in this photo: Ever since I started shaving all the time (see the great face debate of 2004), I have found that the old saw is really true - it really does grow in faster. For example, if, as pictured above, I am too lazy to shave, I can actually get away with it. I am shaving it off, though. I think I look much better without it.

Bee and I have been busily rearranging all our furniture and sending couches and tables and old TVs away to the Salvation Army. Our apartment is starting to look less like one of those creaky crowded little junk shops and more like a place someone might actually want to live. So with all this busy-ness, it is perhaps understandable that we ignored some warning lights on our car dashboard for a couple of days. Now we have known for a while that the muffler has been preparing to leap off the car and crash to its doom amidst sparks and shards of rust on the highway, but when the alternator decided to go the way of the lemming, we were somewhat surprised.

(If you don't know what an alternator is, here you go: it is a cylindrical object with a belt coming off it that turns the engine's rotational energy into electricity which provides power to headlights and spark plugs, etc., and recharges the battery. Basically. I think.)

But we kept driving anyways, until it was time to get a BCAA membership (B.C. Auto. Assoc. = towtrucks and jumpstarts). And then it was time to spend 471 dollars fixing the muffler (with a lifetime warranty, which will doubtless be necessary, as we will never be able to afford a new car). Screw the alternator, we said. Actually, we said, "Um, just charge up the battery so we can get it home, we'll put in an alternator ourselves." Of course, we don't actually know how to put in an alternator, but perhaps it is long past time for us to get those fatherly automobile lessons.

Here's a little aside in the middle of my story: This is what I look like when I am asleep. So peaceful!

So we went to the Toyota place to pick up the car just after dark in the rain. And the engine started easily and we zipped along, amazed at how quiet it was now that the muffler was muffling again. What we didn't realize was that they had replaced the headlights for free. And these new headlights don't come on automatically whenever the car is turned on. So about halfway home, freaking out because we were getting every single red light between our building and the service place (and worried that the car would suddenly conk out) we figured out that all the people flashing their headlights at us (in the dark and the rain) were trying to communicate with us. "But, if we turn on the headlights, won't that drain the battery really fast?" So we left them off.

Five seconds later, I learned why headlights are important when someone pulled out in front of me and I had to brake in an awful, heart-stopping hurry. So we settled on turning on the headlights whenever we were approaching an intersection. "Maybe people will think there is just some electrical problem with our car," I thought, "instead of the truth. Which is that we are doofuses."

An entry isn't really complete without a little beautiful Bee to top it off. Also check out our dog lamp in the background. I know you are jealous.

Also: we bought our tickets for Maui. Which explains why we couldn't afford to fix the alternator. Actually we haven't paid for the tickets yet, but they are in our grasp anyway. I guess it explains why we are afraid to pay for a new alternator. To catch you up on the situation, here it is: Bee and I are going to Maui at Christmas this year for my sister's wedding. (Also to swim with turtles and such things, but that goes without saying.)

Okay I am blabbing incessantly after a week of being incommunicado, so I will stop now, but I have many more things to talk about. Such as: My mom just found and sent me my graduation video, in which I give a ten minute speech about my personal philosophy on life in the guise of a valedictorian speech. Lots of interesting subtext - I was really unpopular with the principal (who knew me as a drug-addled, crazy-clothes-wearing, questionable-material-writing freak-job). Do you think I should post clips from it?