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December 31, 2005

Happy New Year!

I think Sir Paul McCartney said it best.

And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make.

Have a happy new years kids.

Be safe. Be caring. Be appreciative. Be loving.

And Sam, if you see this, thank you for the call. I love you too, Sis.

Posted by Courtney at 05:20 PM | Comments (0)

December 27, 2005

Ahem.

I would do anything for a flickr pro account.

Le sigh.

::edit::

I keep checking and my flickr account still hasn't gotten sponsored.

Big time :(

Posted by Courtney at 09:33 PM

Just another holiday post

And, I'm spent.

Please note that I didn't make my last post until the afternoon of the 24th. That is because at 2pm on Friday December 23rd I fell asleep, and aside from an hour to eat, I slept straight until 10am on the 24th. So much for that whole staying up all night thing.

The afternoon of the 24th I drove 169S down to Tulsa and dropped Keaton off with his family and then hauled ass down to Tahlequah to embrace the insanity that is the Sams family. Note to self, never try to teach a 9 year old how to say "Soviet Russia". Also, never her let have free reign over your digital camera. I ended up with about 10 short movies of her running up to various people asking them to say something funny.

Then I slept and it was off to see the other side of my family; the Johnston side. There was excitement over wild animals outside, and handmade walking canes. It was good to see my Grandma Rosie again, as I never saw her enough when I lived in Tahlequah. My uncle Ted answered the door and said Hello, which was about one word more than I've ever heard him speak before. My little cousins, man, they're not so little anymore as it seems Trent is about to start high school and Quinton is around 9.

We won't get into the part where I was asked if I was dating a white boy or an Indian boy. Yowza.

My sister had some plans of her own, so we had to leave after only a couple hours, but I sidetracked and put her behind schedule when I found out she had never seen something we always referred to as the "Hydraulics." See, my grandma lives in an area known as, well, to use the proper pronunciation, "Punkin Holler." Trust me, you'll never hear me say it out loud. But, it's an area just East of the Illinois River with various creeks running through it. One such place actually flows over the westbound road. And immediately where it flows down from where the road is it has carved out the rocks and consistently moves through it during the year.

I was more so amazed that she had never seen the area. It's about a mile or so from my Grandma's house, though, it's hard to tell on the curvy 2 lane country road there. We had to stop at one point to let chickens cross the road. We had the windows down. We were listening to Dino as loud as possible. Much to her surprise, I suddenly parked on the side of the road, and we were climbing around on large rocks. I don't doubt that it'll be a place she visits from time to time, if for no other reason it's a place to go where you're feeling familiar, but a place no one will think to look for you.

Again, more sleep then my sister and I set off for dinner and a movie. Which meant Denny's 30 mins away in Muskogee and The Family Stone at some shitty Carmike nearby. All 3 things were mediocre.

This morning, it was up back to Tulsa to visit with Keaton's mom and pick him up and gallivant around the town. God, I miss Tulsa. A lot. We visited the new Riverwalk Crossing area off 93rd and Riverside. We drove down the length of Riverside drive with the windows down and Death Cab's Plans playing. We ate lunch at Full Moon. It was just like it always was before. And that was perfect in itself.

And now I am home. And there's not much left to say after that.

::Digital photos of the rocks
::::Specific shot: My Sister, Caitlan, and I.

::Mobile photos of the trip to Tahlequah and to the Riverwalk Crossing in Tulsa

Posted by Courtney at 12:28 AM | Comments (0)

December 24, 2005

Diamond rope silver chain

So.

My name is Courtney and I'm an attention whore. We all know that much right? Well, the thing is, I'm really not much of an attention whore outwardly. I have my little ways, but when all the pressure is on me, I flounder kinda.

Which brings me to yesterday.

I didn't sleep all night. Not because I was nervous, but because I had a very early AM breakfast date with a friend coming through town. I stayed up all night doing laundry, burning cds and texting him directions to the nearest Denny's then kicked around with him for about 3 hours. I really didn't eat much of my breakfast, because at that point I had been up so long food was evil.

So then I came home and suddenly found myself very nervous. I don't really find myself insecure about the outward things, except for one. My voice. I sound like a squeaky mouse. Now, the thought of this squeaky mouse being broadcast across KC was more than a little frightening to me. So. Enter the muscle relaxer. One Flexeril down and I'm on I-35 heading toward Mission Rd.

I finally arrive at Entercom around 11:30 and Jason comes to find me. Jason gave me a quick look around the studio and at the cube where he does the station's programming. We grab an intern to answer the phones and we're off and running. He makes it a point to let everyone know I have been bugging him about the list.

We get a few calls right off, and I quickly notice that he has his regulars. I have to answer a ton of calls by saying "Hello, the Buzz" and it's all sorts of awkward. I get to tell people if they're right or wrong, and most of the show they're not just wrong, but WAY wrong. I finally get to the point where I feel okay telling people that they're really wrong. I squeaked a few times. I had a few guys ask if the theme was Necrophelia right after "Dead & Bloated" played.

By far, most people asked me if these were bands on Lollapalooza.


But really, the whole list was just first tracks on a cd.

Actually, it was just my excuse to get "Pretty Noose" played on the air.

I got to pick the winner of the other pair of tickets, and then I got to hang out a few more minutes before I got to grab my fucking floor seats and go.

Jason was completely awesome and fun and has a huge job at the station, and it was great to have some music related conversations. Especially about how awesome Vitalogy is.

Now I've just got to wait until February so I can finally see NIN at Kemper.

The final playlist was:

1. SMASHING PUMPKINS - CHERUB ROCK
2. NIRVANA - ABOUT A GIRL (unplugged)
3. WEEZER - MY NAME IS JONAS
4. SOUNDGARDEN - PRETTY NOOSE
5. RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - AROUND THE WORLD
6. NIN - HEAD LIKE A HOLE
7. JANE'S ADDICTION - STOP
8. STP - DEAD AND BLOATED
9. DAVE MATTHEWS BAND - SO MUCH TO SAY
10. HOLE - VIOLET
11. GREEN DAY - NICE GUYS FINISH LAST
12. PEARL JAM - GO

Go. My little list got GO played on 96.5. Fucking rock.

---

Off to Tahlequah for the weekend, by way of Bixby.

Have a merry courtneymas all.

And Nathan & Rich, happy birthdays!

Posted by Courtney at 02:53 PM | Comments (2)

December 23, 2005

Mystery theme day


Mystery theme day, originally uploaded by attentionwhore.

Just now going home from the buzz. Show went fairly well. Thanks again to jason for letting me take over his hour and getting me a pair of awesome NIN tickets.

Posted by Courtney's Phone at 01:25 PM | Comments (4)

December 21, 2005

Annoyance

So, when I want something I tend to be very annoying about it. And I'm sure no one knows that more from me than Mr. Jason Ulanet from 96.5 the Buzz. My emails & text messages. Well. Let's just say I get a little insistant sometimes!

I'll get to sit in with him and help him take calls Friday afternoon for the 90s at Noon show which I have prepared a playlist that we'll select songs from. Everyone else's job? To guess why I picked these songs in the first place.

Everyone in the KC metro will get to hear my squeak over their lunch time, and I'll get to take my attention whoreness to a whole new level.

Then it'll be back home to find something decent for lunch, then off to Freeloader Friday to get drunk around 3.

Weird. Back to work with me. I'm gonna be way late.

Posted by Courtney at 12:49 PM | Comments (1)

December 18, 2005

The end of good music.

"That song is like The Ring," I explained. "You have to pass it on, or you die."

That about sums up everything I've ever felt towards the song "My Humps."

It's kinda like The Producers of pop music. Something so bad and different, that it just becomes huge.

--

On another note, I'm of the mindset that Trent Reznor didn't go Electro, he was just waiting for the rest of the world to discover it so he could finally stop being as angry.

Posted by Courtney at 06:53 PM | Comments (0)

Over my head

Ok, all the archives and commenting have been switched to resemble the current layout. Hopefully there won't be any lame issues, because I probably won't fix them.

Other than that, The Clientele and The Fray might be my 2 favorite bands right now. I saw The Fray on the side stage in Lazlo's VIP tent at the Buzz Beach Ball show back in July and completely forgot about them until today. Lead singer has an amazing voice. The Clientele just sounds like The Shins with Lou Reed singing to me. Either way, check them out in whatever manner you see fit.

Amazon wants me to tag things now :( I think I might cry. If one more damn site asks me to tag something, I swear to god I'm going to throw my monitor out the window and live the rest of my life in a white robe telling people I'm the 2nd coming of Christ.

I mean is title, creator, company affiliation, chapters/songs, and genre not enough anymore? Do the reviews just not matter? I have to have the ability to give it something completely arbitrary and personal? Fuck you. All I'm doing is trying to remember what the weird cover to The Great Gatsby looked like anyway. Amazon is the last place I want to have to put in more effort, especially since I have to look at their "recommendations" on every single fucking page.

Posted by Courtney at 02:09 AM | Comments (0)

December 17, 2005

This is the moment that you know

Shh...don't anyone tell The Nieda, but I totally cried a little during Tiny Vessels.

I SAID SHH.

Tonight was the Against Me, Alkaline Trio, Hot Hot Heat, Psychadelic Furs & Death Cab for Cutie show at Memorial Hall. Put on by our favorite, 96.5, it was a great show.

Missed Against Me since I didn't get off work till 5 and didn't swing by to pick up Chronic until 5:45. Alkaline Trio was a lot more put together than I expected. I definitely enjoyed the loud live sound added to it. Hot Hot Heat is amazing. I wasn't familiar with them at all prior to tonight, and their sound and energy just blew me away.

The Psychadelic Furs. Hmm. I don't think I was in the right mindframe to have my first experience with them. Between the flamboyance, the nazi salute and a keyboardist no one paid attention to, they played a lot of good sounding music. I just wished I could have understood a lyric or two here and there. I enjoyed it and will definitely be looking further beyond the 3 songs of theirs I've collected on various soundtracks and such.

Death Cab. They were everything I expected them to be and more. The only thing that could have made it better was hearing them do "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" live; then I would have fucking bawled like a baby.

I really need to go buy some Hot Hot Heat tomorrow.

And now I must sleep, or something.

This is the moment that you know
That you told her that you loved her but you don't.
You touch her skin and then you think
That she is beautiful but she don't mean a thing to me.
Yeah, she is beautiful but she don't mean a thing to me.

I spent two weeks in Silverlake
The California sun cascading down my face
There was a girl with light brown streaks,
And she was beautiful but she didn't mean a thing to me.
Yeah, she was beautiful but she didn't mean a thing to me.

I wanted to believe in all the words that I was speaking,
As we moved together in the dark
And all the friends that I was telling
All the playful misspellings
and every bite I gave you left a mark

Tiny vessels oozed into your neck
And formed the bruises
That you said you didn't want to fade
But they did, and so did I that day

All I see are dark grey clouds
In the distance moving closer with every hour
So when you ask "Is something wrong?"
I think "You're damn right there is but we can't talk about it now.
No, we can't talk about it now."

So one last touch and then you'll go
And we'll pretend that it meant something so much more
But it was vile, and it was cheap
and you are beautiful but you don't mean a thing to me
yeah you are beautiful but you don't mean a thing to me

Posted by Courtney at 01:07 AM | Comments (13)

December 12, 2005

Courtney in the Skies

To do:

-Go ahead and change the archives.
-Even my first image and the date for the newest post. Close enough.
-Get a real header image. Still want the whore cartoon. Later.
-Fix the spacing on the menu. All the MT placed text is 3 spaces further right.
-Fix your fucking padding you claustrophobic bitch. Better, I think?
-Linky the rss.
-About page. Don't forget SquidFingers link.
-Set up MULTIBLOG and move menu into that.
-Non-emo title. NEVAR!
-Make the white not so boring.The white is fine.
-Categorizing! Categorizing! Categorizing!
-Create MT plugin that will pull topics from alternate blogs running on the same instance of MT and link titles
-learn that sentences begin with capitals and end with punctuation and that fragments do not

On the other hand, last night was Jon's birthday, so a small group of 8 of us went to Skies for dinner. Skies being the rotating restaurant on top of the Hyatt in the Crown Center about 42 stories up. The food wasn't as spectacular as I expected, well, it wasn't $41 surf&turf good, but I had a great time, and the view is amazing. I'm glad I finally got a chance to go, and it will definitely be a great place to go for drinks. In the 2 or so hours we were there we rotated 1.5 times.

I had a crab stuffed sirloin on garlic mashed potatoes which was enough food for 3 Courtneys. The crab was a little too nutty tasting to properly mix with the steak, but I withheld from the cream sauce that was offered. Maybe that would have tied it all together. The service was slow, which worked wonderfully in letting our group take in the view and chat, but was hell on our appetites.

It doesn't get any better than the view though. It was a great night for the birthday of a wonderful guy.

By the way, the Hyatt has this interesting display of golden balls on strings. I was absolutely mesmerized with it. Everyone laughed when I laid on the side of the fountain to take pictures of it. Is it that weird?

The night before was a nice party at Adam and JoLynn's place. They did some awesome redecorating that updated and opened the place and definitely made the rich wood floors feel like an integral part of the space. They also had a gorgeous Christmas tree set up. My favorite spot was the futon though, since it was comfy in my too much 151 sleep. I was glad to be there, and woke up with a Steve on the other couch.

It was the best weekend I've had in awhile. Not much happened, but what did happen was quality. Now if only I hadn't stayed up until 2am for the Fazed 6 launch last night.

::Mobile photos for the beginning of December

::Mobile/Digital photos of snow driving

Posted by Courtney at 11:49 PM | Comments (4)

Something different.

Yeah.

Weird isn't it?

The white is a little much for me now that I actually see it with the posts on it. I really like the background though. I'm not sure if it's harder to read now than before.

I haven't updated any of the archive pages, so if you click those, it'll go back to the old style. I'm gonna leave it like that for a couple days to see if I can stand this or want my beautiful black and pink back.

Ugh. 2:30. I totally said I wasn't going to stay up this late anymore.

Oh yeah, remind me to tell you tomorrow about the dinner I had at Skies tonight.

Posted by Courtney at 02:24 AM | Comments (2)

December 04, 2005

let the damage sink

I recommend staying away from the transporation industry unless you want to have a stressful holiday season.

I'm completely crushed.

No ordinary sin
This perfect working order
I'd rather sink than swim
If I can't walk on water

You let this scandal in
It's perfect world disorder
I'd rather drown than swim
I can't walk on water

This taste of dilution
Velvet divorce, I get bored
(Velvet divorce) I get bored
(Velvet divorce, velvet divorce)
I get bored

I'd sooner sell it cheap
Than tread this limbo culture
It takes a gun to plea
The stone that we've been under

You still take me wrong
I don't need understanding
Let the damage sink
I'm asking, I'm demanding

This taste of dilution
Velvet divorce, I get bored
(Velvet divorce) I get bored
(Velvet divorce, velvet divorce)
I get bored

I'm losing all my days
To nights of blurt salvation
I'm fallowing your days
It's true, I hate creation

This taste of dilution
Velvet divorce, I get bored
(Velvet divorce) I get bored
(Velvet divorce, velvet divorce)
I get bored

Posted by Courtney at 06:40 PM | Comments (0)

December 03, 2005

If it's not broke.

Being that this is the 2nd weekend in a row without any known plans, I've taken to trying to redesign this site again.

People really shouldn't allow that as it's going to end up absolutely horrible and ugly and even less people will want to look at it than now.

Everyone complains about the white on black, and the amount of pink (which has been scaled back quite a bit from 2 years ago), so it's time to move to black on white, with grey valued links.

I've tried to use a background, and have heavily bastardized one I've found from local guy Travis, but if you view the example, it's just painful after about 10 seconds. Maybe if it was more white?

And as always, after spending multiple hours with various columns and layouts and liquidity bullshit, I ended up going back to the same damn layout I have now.

I'm currently mostly disgusted with what I've ended up with, as it is completely boring and lifeless.

It needs more pink.

However, the main change I will be making is nothing visual. It's purely me creating more options for category based content that is not run under one section of the CMS. I have a lot of stuff I want to put down, but I don't want it all to show up here. I want to have it all set up in time for Courtney Cookie Fest 05, which is quickly approaching, so I might have to ugly this place up quicker than I think.

Let me just apologize in advance, and I'll understand if you stick straight to grabbing the RSS feed from now on. You should anyways. It's so much easier.

See, isn't this disgusting? Welcome to the future, I suppose.

Posted by Courtney at 05:53 PM | Comments (4)