http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/gunnar-street-dog.html

http://www.gunnarbikes.com/streetdog.php


So nice...so local...so expensive...especially with the way work's been going lately. The main place I deliver for may be failing and the owner's laid off two employees.A couple of other prospects went with car delivery instead. I hope they regret it when in a few more weeks their drivers demand higher wages...but they''ll probably just fire them and hire people that don't know their own value.

Is anyone going to the bike-in movie tomorrow night? Apparently it's about some ex-rev's who get back into stickin' it to the man with bicycles.

I'd have to know how to play in order to have game.

and I got cited for it. Last night 'round 4am my buddy Phil and I were biking from a party and heading back to the neighborhood on Humbolt, near that expensive Good Life Cafe when a car nearly swideswiped us off the road. Being the delicate soul that I am I yelled "Fuck you!" at the driver not realizing they were 5-0. Copper slammed on their brakes about 4 feet in front of me and I had to swerve left immediately which resulted in slamming into the curb and toppling over my bars. Luckily my bicycle is fine and all I've got is a partially chipped tooth and some aches.

When he got out of the car he demanded to know what I was about and I responded with "What the hell man, you nearly took us out!" He promptly replied that vulgar language was illegal in Wisconsin(?) and asked if I'd like to go downtown. At this point I was simply sitting on the curb trying to sort things out while Phil and the other officer had some sort of debate about cyclists and cars. The pig talking to me puffed his chest out and responded that he was trained as a bike officer and I said then he should know how dangerous it is to stop directly in front of a biker. I also cited the ordnance for Wisconsin stating that all drivers are required to give bikers 3 feet of space when passing. No comprende for this fucker. He took my prints and told me a citation would come in the mail and I had court July 16th. They got in their car and left. A few seconds later two 20somethings came out of their apartment and handed Phil and I beers, the dude saying he thought we could use em. A conversation about the use of police and how useless they tended to be ensued. Dude was native american and had family from mexico so the cops LOVED him. He said he didn't go anywhere with anything remotely "dangerous" including dinner knives.
The woman said that she had been sexually assaulted and when she tried to report it their first question was "What were you wearing and were you drinking?" Yeah...unsurprising to the four of us there but unfortunately all too shocking for the average citizen. Every time I have an altercation with police-this was my first in mke-I reflect on how lucky I am to be white and male. I collapsed into bed with visions of dead cops dancing through my mind.

Today I feel stiff and sore but everything's intact and my bike is in good shape. Whatever the world tosses my way...it's on.

Had a great weekend-did some gardening, rode a  lot Friday, made delicious food  both sat n sunday with good people,
drank just enough Friday and last night but not too much ;). Some friends and I shot part of a music video for MKEtoRNC today too.
Hell, I even watched Star Wars ANH tonight with someone who'd never seen it before. I'll probably regret missing Skarp tonight but I was beat all day and after making smoothies and as the evening wore on my desire left.

Works going well,I've got one more 'client' and another potential, assuming I don't get killed or paralyzed things are going well.

-Apparently dumpstering outpost at 3pm yields pizza crust, vegan donuts and vegan chocolate.-

Since the May Day block party I've been in a habitually good mood. Work's awesome, I picked up another client today, there's been a load of good shows, lots of biking lately and less drinking than this point last year.

Today after work I got a phone call from my friend mary asking if I'd want to do some yard work for her neighbors and I made 10 bux in one hour. Im awaiting a bbq riblet sandwich from the co-op deli during my delivery shift. Nom nom nom. 

Tonight there's an anarcho-nihilist folk band playing the ccc, then Klunkerz for the bike-in movie, then a small get-together at my house for my roommate Don's "old man birthday" then Zhana's having a birthday party at her place. On that front...things worked out for the best.
Yes, life is sweet. This means I'm probably going to die soon. Cynicism even at the best of times.

Watching this again reminds me of two things 1. That Bill Murray totally has sad dad eyes and that his expressions say more in a single scene than most actors are capable of in their careers 2. I really want to find some good Ethiopian jazz music.

 I've worked two days (8hrs total) downtown and made 60 bucks. I've also  yelled "I'm fuckin' workin'!" and flicked off a cop car after they cut me off while THEY ran a red light. Today I met my friend at her work, had a beer for lunch, and we checked out the MIAD senior thesis show.

This afternoon I went to a super-intense meeting at the CCC. Most of it centers around the fact that we're barely holdin' it together.
The intensity was measured, and at times healthy but I still feel drained. This Thursday is May Day, which means our big block party and really really free market after a bunch of us go to the Las Voces immigrants strike march. It's gonna be a good long day.

I REALLY want to start doing early morning rides, either during the week or Sat n Sundays. I know there's a couple of weekly evening rides but a good 8 or 9am ride once a week'd be better than coffee.

There's finally a reportback from the action at Oshkosh Truck last month, in which some crazy fux decided to wear 'droid masks and have a robo-dance party at one of Wisconsin's primary war profiteers.

http://milwaukee.indymedia.org/en/2008/04/209595.shtml

The soundtrack was an awesome mix of electronica even the most devout kraftwerk listening A.I. would appreciate.
Good weekend;saw a really loud and intense michigan band called Beasts of the Field;a wall of amps stacked twice; went to see some friends spin/breathe/create fire, drunkenly arm wrestled several people(and won every time...though my arm's now sore) and stayed out till 5am both nights and still woke up at 11:30 completely sober and healthy. Sunday a few of us at the anarchist discussion decided to start a collective garden project involving several houses, including hops planting.

Today was the first day I worked my delivery job, made 30 bucks in 3 hours, some of which sitting in a coffee shopping and reading for almost an hour. Ate a delicious Big Rig at comet I rode to the bike collective with my friend caitlin in spite of the 40 degree temp+ 20 degree winds. WTF? Where'd spring go? Oh...Milwaukee...lake effect...right.


I decided I need some new clothes. Not like thrift store new, but nice clothes new. Being an anarchist shouldn't mean I have to look like a sewer rat. 'Sides, I can still find most things union made.

Soon...a "date". We shall see.

Apparently Elle Magazine considers themselves experts on both the NA anarchist/radical community and eco-terrorists. The infamous "Anna" who was an FBI informant involved with the Green Scare spoke to the magazine recently. Their article is some of the best state propaganda I've seen in awhile.

http://veganxjen.livejournal.com/4471.html?mode=reply


In other news, Derrick Jensen was as good as I'd expected, most of his talk centered around Endgame and of course liberal Star Wars and hope bashing. A lot of it resembled the one I saw in '05 but it was still worthwhile.

Friday
+Hanging at Zhanas with Nato in the morning before he left
+++Going downtown to  Brooklyn Bob's sub shop and coordinating a plan for bike delivery with Bob himself. This is an exciting prospect as it means the second (and first major) step to establishing a Milwaukee food by bike delivery business.
+Lazy afternoon bike ride
-No deliveries at my co-op shift.
-Bike wheel problems delaying my getting to MIAD for Gallery night
++Gallery night shenanigans
+Drunkenly watching half of Newsies before falling asleep

Saturday
-Waking up later than I intended and not getting some projects done
+Coffee at Fuel with Nicole
+Running into lots of good folk while at said coffee shop and staying for hours
-Missing Candliers at Exclusive
+Pete Wood's birthday show which essentially involved stupid movies on sci-fi channel of inside jokes and making fun of Marquette kids while they were oblivious between good noises.
+Classic Slice post party
+Dead Man's Carnival Circus complete with burlesque routines and cinder blocks broken on rib cages.
+Staying up till about 5am reading and making a spring riding mix for my mp3 player. Lots of NA, Death Side and Limpwrist

Sunday
+Waking up, gettin' coffee and spending the rest of the day working on my tallbike/hanging out with lots of good people
-A perpetually anti-climatic feeling since then. I hate Sundays most of all I think. Even if I'm productive and doing things, it's kind of a tease.

I heard about this on NPR this afternoon.Apparently in Mexico, emo kids are getting the snot kicked out of them by punks  and metalheads amongst others.

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/03/anti-emo-riots.html

Apparently they've got a good relationship with Johnny Law:"But the so-called emos are organizing, too. Last week, they demonstrated against the violence, pictured above, and Wednesday some met with police in Mexico City."

I NEVER thought I'd see this in print:

"They're organizing to defend their right to be emo," wrote Daniel Hernandez of LA Weekly on his personal blog, which has provided stellar coverage of the whole affair.

Sadly though, it seems that some of this may be an excuse to embrace homophobia, as some of the attackers seem to play on the term "emosexual". I sincerely hope that's something the media is blowing out of proportion but most likely there's a grain of truth.

Time.com states:"Most (emos)are from comfortable middle-class backgrounds with little experience of the street battles in Mexico's hardened barrios."  But this...this is just bullshit "Commentators and city officials called for tolerance, comparing the prejudice to a Nazi persecution of minorities." WTF?

Beating people up for the kind of music they like and their style of dress is pretty stupid, provided they're not racist skins or something. But,at the same time, these are rich kids hanging out in areas where true poverty exists. Obviously we have parallels in the US and guess what? Yuppies and college kids get beaten up and mugged here too. This is much more complex an issue than anti-homophobia. This is class based, guaranteed.

I decided this was worth coming out of hibernation:

http://www.wisn.com/news/15774202/detail.html

Recently it was the anniversary of a close friend's suicide. I got a phone call from an old friend in columbus just a few moments ago and we talked of him. We spoke of how his death crystallized things for us, that his choice represented a lack of choice for us. When Justin took his life he was saying, as millions do, that he could no longer bear witness to the world we inhabited. Justin was happy,a source of joy,  beloved by friends and his partner. He was interested in becoming a teacher and was heavily involved in several community projects in Cincinatti. Many theories were put forth as to why he made the decision. The only theory that holds true, in many of his friends eyes, is that he felt utterly helpless. Helpless in the face of so much devastation to do anything, to radically change what he perceived as wrong. He had an unflagging faith that people were able to rise above their vices and their greed to embrace a new direction.We knew that he struggled with this belief and what he saw every day to denounce that belief. It is this refusal to surrender that faith that led to his decision. I miss him terribly.

Come rushing forth the heathen tides

The very earth trembles, shakes

But with them, not fearful of them; a deeper knowledge is at work

For these humans come with naked blade and nocked bow

To rail against the very foundations that force them into silence

That force them into domestication

I was looking up jobs in craiglist and for a laugh chose the category Security. This result came up:

INFANTRYMEN

---

Reply to: scott.chance@us.army.mil
Date: 2008-01-09, 3:33PM CST


Assists in the performance of reconnaissance operations. Employs, fires, and recovers anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. Locates and neutralizes mines. Operates, mounts/dismounts, zeros, and engages targets using night vision sight. Operates and maintains communications equipment and operates in a radio net. Operates in a NBC contaminated area. Constructs field expedient firing aids for infantry weapons. Performs as a member of a fire team during a movement to contact, reconnaissance, and security, an attack, defense, situational training exercises and all infantry dismounted battle drills. Processes prisoners of war and captured documents.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CALL 920-222-1205


I wonder if I just found a recruiter for Blackwater, the private mercenary company.

At first I was sketched out, then I saw the email to reply. Im still sketched out; the military using craiglist to recruit isnt surprising but still pisses me off.

What's funny? Funny is watching your roommate attempt to drunkenly explain to his gf, your upstairs neighbors who are a lesbian couple and yourself (a white privileged male) explain that by rejecting the white male privilege mainstream society thrust upon him that he's above reproach. Anarchist lolz

Went to stonefly tonight and ran into a bunch of milwaukee's raddest which was a nice surprise. Even won a round of trivia.


I rarely cry these days/I don't cry that often. I love songs that make me feel so deeply that I unashamedly cry.

This is my church
It stands so tall... proud
and has done for all time

It has no walls
Yet its vast halls
Reach from shore to shore

To whatever shore
You know as your own
We stand as one, we stand alone

We are born
From the same womb
And hewn from the same stone

From the frozen Baltic
I watched sunrise over Athena
I walked the battlefields of Flanders
And saw duskfall at Cintra

Beneath the spires of Sofia
Fields of crosses at Arnhem
Armenius stood tall in Teuteborg
Senatus Populusque Romanus

To the fjords of Hordaland
Shadows of ancient Albion
And to the shore of a 1000th lake
Saint Vitus dance in Praha

Yet when to Ireland we Return
I know that I am home at last
And with every sun that sets
It Takes me nearer to her Earth

It's 8:30am and I haven't been able to sleep yet...I was curious as to whether my very first lj, that I'd started in 2001, was still around so I did a search...and found it. I suppose its like someone reading an old diary they kept, but if their friends wrote comments in it as well.

I have a meeting in less than 6 hours...time to take a nap.

Wearing headphones while listening to nothing but black metal for several hours is also good for perpetual insomnia. And if you do it before bed usually you're destined for epic dreams.

"But here steps in Satan, the eternal rebel, the first free-thinker and emancipator of worlds. He makes man ashamed of his bestial ignorance and obedience; he emancipates him, stamps upon his brow the seal of liberty and humanity, in urging him to disobey and eat of the fruit of knowledge." -Bakunin

Tonight I made my way to the Riverhorse for free beer and to watch Holy Shit! play. One of the bartenders was quitting so he was thanking his community. I appreciated the sentiment, even if I could not enjoy the entropic situation. I hate bars; more than that I hate going to public places solely to buy something which forces people who are otherwise alienated to feel a false sense of closeness. I watched the documentary What a Way to Go the other night at a friends and one of the interviewees talked about bars as being "dark, loud and crowded because if you turned the lights on and the music down people wouldn't know how to interact" (paraphrasing) and although this is hardly a new thought I always shrugged disconsolately and shouldered my way in. I always remember bars in rpgs resembling the opposite-brightly lit places with the music subdued and conversation being the focus. Some bars retain this in the real world but very few do it well. I stayed for a less than an hour after holy shit played and left out of boredom. Not with the people, but with the notion itself. I biked quickly home with my headphones playing Stormcrow and continued to listen to their epic crusty metalness in the darkness of my abode. I made a phone call to a good friend expressing my rage and disgust with how apathetic and miserable most people were. I decided recently that I would no longer be tolerating anything that made me miserable and so far this has achieved mixed results. I have fewer friends but better ones and with the exception of not being self-sufficient economically my life is better than it has been of late. People continue to madden and disappoint me but the grace is not letting it affect what I do.
 Hell, I even have two different people that I'm "seeing". I also wrote some ideas out for an article I'm going to write for the next Total Destroy. I'm excited to start it tomorrow.

I wrote something a few days ago for an online rpg I'm currently running in and thought I'd post it here just because those stumbling on my journal might enjoy a bit o' fun.