I've gone NERVIO!

No problem, comment-bot.

I've enabled comment verification forms since I've been getting some stimulating comments from bots. Ugh.

Dear on-line diary,

Well. Three weeks till the semester ends. I can hardly wait. As much as I love the classroom environment, I can't really stand some of the bull-shyte "activities" I've had to participate in.

Some things I've learned about things:
-Online classes are a huge pain in the butt. The constant discussion-board interaction is no way to participate in a "discussion." How many more times do I have to type and/or read, "I agree completely." as a fulfillment of responding to someone elses post. Ugh.
-While I don't consider myself anti-social, I abhore group work of any sort. This is exaggerated by the general lack of social skills most IT students seem to have mastered at a young age. Years of sitting behind a computer screen in their bedroom instead of chasing down the BMOC for the big dance translates to more of the same.
-HTML coding is extremely time consuming when designing a website from scratch with little previous experience.
-One never learns how to do something right with no feedback from the instructor.
-Some things never change... I'm still a procrastinator.

Other than that, I'm looking forward to the semester break. Why? Because shortly after I finished six months of chemo, I was tossed into a completely new weekly schedule. It's been a difficult task to get acclimated to the change. All in all, it's made my life feel like it was put into a shoebox right around the time I got back from Hawaii in February and then that shoebox was subsequent, violently shaken, repeatedly. Good times indeed.

In other news, Where the i Divides is currently kicking ass and taking names on the next album. All that really means is that I'm spending one night a week without sleep with a guitar in my lap and a keyboard in front of a computer, redrafting demos for distribution to the rest of the band for their "creative" additions. (Lyrics and melodys, Drumbeats, Bass lines).

Sleep? Like I used to say in undergrad... "I'll be dead soon, then I'll sleep."

In preparedness...

This Thursday, I'm planning a live-blog for my Thursday night class... Computer Hardware Essentials.

Check back late to see it, or just read it on Friday. I will do my best to make it as entertaining as the title of the class sounds.

It sure as hell can't be any more boring than the class I'm sitting in right now. YAY!

I would direct all readers to the band's new website, but it's not up/functioning and such and such.

Too much meat on the plate, not enough salad.

Detroit is awesome!

I spotted this article after I finished up my mid-term.

Made me think of this "article".

Detroit is awesome.

I've pushed this before...

Sitting in class... awesome!

Check this out for a laugh.

Yellowstones

I made a playlist tonight while stuffing dollars into the jukebox at the Black Bear aka second home.

Track 1: Blame it on the Tetons - Modest Mouse

Track 2: Future Proof - Massive Attack

Track 3: My Own Summer (Shove it!) - Deftones

When I got home, I added these:

Track 4: Stop Whispering - Radiohead (Live in Boston, 1996)

Track 5: Bury Me - Smashing Pumpkins

Track 6: Politik - Coldplay

Track 7: For Martha - Smashing Pumpkins

Track 8: An Anniversary for an Uninteresting Event - Deftones

Track 9: Dope Nose - Weezer

Track 10: Fairest of the Seasons - Nico

Track 11: Set the Ray to Jerry - Smashing Pumpkins

Track 12: Aurora - Bjork

Track 13: The Day the World Went Away (Quiet) - Nine Inch Nails

It's been quite the day.

Cancer stuff...

Not that I have time for any of that anyway. School started last Monday. Ugh. 16 credits, 2 part-time jobs, a band to run. I guess I'm never as happy as I am running myself ragged. Try and stop me.

Thanks to everyone for their kind words, thoughts, prayers, judgements, idiosyncrasies, wisdom, patience.

There are many more songs I want to add to that playlist, but I'm going to limit myself. It's supposed to represent a certain place and time. Yeah.

Blame it on the Tetons.

Heard that song on my ipod on the way out of the parking ramp at the hospital today after I found out I was in remission.

It'll end in some crying

So apparently the new guitar hero is pushing a computer generated image of Kurdt.

Fuc dat!.. and Duck Guitar hero... he was never a guitar icon like the quiads in Dragonforce and he'll never be one. He was just a guy with something to say.

Like this...

total bullshit!

But on a good note, I'm going to pass out listening to This Mortal Coil's It'll End in Tears in my parents basement. I may not be 43 and it's not my birthday and there's nothing near a bowl in my room, it's still going to make me laugh through my dreams with Shakes the Clown. Just google werewolves and lollipops... makes me laugh every time

Two in one month...

Things are going to be great!!! in several weeks.

Today is the first day that I don't feel like chemo is going to drag on for the rest of my days. Five more days till the last dosage. Two weeks from that and I'm expecting to start feeling less anemic. I CAN HARDLY WAIT!

For myself (as always), I picked up a David Cross album and a Patton Oswalt album today. Can't get enough funny to try to "pick me up".

Also got a copy of Public Enemy's Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age to replace the one I lost in Montana. It's probably my favorite Public Enemy album. Great stuff.

And lastly, if you have a chance, check out the movie "Moon". Saw it on Saturday and was rather impressed.

Well well... (on the road to)

Chemotherapy continues to drain me slowly of energy. With 16 days left till I'm done with my last dose, I'm certain it can't come any slower.

No news about my progress/response to treatment. My last CT Scan was late April and the oncologist suggested that we wait till after I finished chemo for the next one.

Where the i Divides finished the album finally. It's available for purchase. $10.00 for a limited edition, hand numbered copy. Email where_the_i_divdes AT hotmail DOT com to find out how to get yours. Of course, we're already talking about getting the next one finished by next summer. It's going to be a busy year.

Jenny Lewis rocks!

Last night I went to the Barrymore theater and saw Jenny Lewis perform. She rocks! Great show. If you dig good songwriting and clever lyrical twists with superb singing, check her out.

I was reminded of a friend that went to see Britney Spears in Chicago for both shows. He spent a lot of money on that. When Jenny Lewis walked out and started her first song, I couldn't help but think that there are people like my friend who would rather pay an exorbitant amount of money to watch a performer dance and fake sing instead of a musician with talent in an intimate theater for $20.

Those people are idiots.

... and lame.

I also wanted to share this:

Rip-tide

Once again with the Nupogen! Yay. Got a little too much of the ab's instead of the fat on top of them today. Hurt a little bit.

Album meeting went super well awesome good!!! Everything for that should be wrapped up by next week (except for the part of the thing where I depend on someone else to give me material for the insert and they let me down daily... eh, hem JOE!). Ya'll don't go getting your hopes up about getting your grubby hands on a copy any time soon. We haven't decided anything about selling this before our release date of July 3rd. (Stupid party rule or something.)

Chemo is going the same as ususal. Makes me feel a little "ick" but I can't complain. It could be a whole hell of a lot worse.

And the music theory class I'm taking this semester is finally starting to come together. Holes are being filled in (in my head) and the knowledge is beginning to fester... better have that checked.

Up to the latest

Well.  There isn't much to report.  Treatment goes on as usual.  The weekend's I have it are sort of fun.  Mostly spend them sleeping when the mood strikes.

The band is pushing the album forward.  I have a meeting tomorrow to finalize images and put the packaging to press.  The insert is a different story... only because someone else is in charge of that.  And that someone is a big, lazy procrastinator.  "I'll be back from California in a week."  What about the insert?  "It's not done yet."  

Whatever.

The television show that's associated with the band is also moving along slowly.  Most ideas involve too much cost for costumes or issues with having a place to shoot that won't involve the cops at some point.  We'll figure that out... when I'm not feeling like throwing up.

If Wikipedia were right...

This post is post 301.  Not that amazing but I thought I'd make it public.

This past week has been full of ups and downs.  I felt like an old man on Friday because of the Filgrastim.  If you ever have a chance to be on that... do it.  It's so much fun.  (that's a typo... "m" should be "o")

I thought I'd share the list of all the wonderful drugs I've been taking these days.

Post Chemo Set:

Filgrastim

Zithromax

Vicodin

Zolpidem Tartrate

Ranitidine

Dexamethasone

Prochlorperazine

Lorazepam

Pre-Chemo and Chemo (ABVD)

Acetaminophen

Aprepitant

Diphenhydramine

Ondansetron

Bleomycin* (B)

Dacarbazine* (D)

Doxorubicin* (A)

Vinblastine* (V)

Non-Chemo related

Lexapro

I get some of these only when I need them.  Most of them I get either the day of chemo or take to manage the chemo side-effect train in the following five days or so.  The only one I take every day is the Lexapro.  And that's the one that keeps me smiling... well that and that great Eric Idle song from Life of Brian.  (Thanks to James for reminding me of that movie.  Watched it again on Sunday.)

Post 2nd treatment

Second treatment's going about the same as the first. I've been much more responsible in regards to getting my rest. Feeling stronger in one way (less fatigue so far) but also feeling like crap. I got a cold and my neutrophil count is low. I've been on antibiotics and I start shots tomorrow to boost my bone marrow output. It's going to make my bones ache! Hurray... not really.

But I've given up trying to sneak a few drinks in during the week. Going sober and getting more rest. I don't want to end up in the hospital and it's already a possibility that could happen very soon. Yikes.

My bone marrow biopsy came back with no signs of cancerous cells. This means I'm stage two. Pretty good prognosis for that. Five more months and I'll be back to normal. Give or take a few. (most likely give.)

I couldn't believe this when I heard about it.

One day, Where the i Divides will do the same to this town.  The Rockin' R was not my favorite place... and Boodles... never liked that either.

I sincerely hope the best for anyone that may have been injured in this event.

Word.

Uh huh GRR!!!

It seems like ages since I've posted... but I'm only getting older.

What's new in Zach-land? Nothing. I have my next round of drugs (chemo) on Friday. I'm finally getting back to feeling my normal self and they're going to hit me again. Awesome!

The band is going to be done with the album. We set a "near-future" deadline for completion by mid/late April for the sake of having our next Madison show being our release party. It's good news for me. I'm sick and tired of working on this stupid thing and want it out of my hair forever!!! You hear me? Good.

I did pick up the new U2 album yesterday. It's grown on me. I feel like before I know it I'm going to be going to a U2 concert while muttering under my breath something about the rolling stones and being ancient and sucky. It's not a bad album. Some of the songs are growing on me even but I can't help but wonder why they keep making albums that sound the same. (that's somewhat rehtorical so perhaps you should save those answers for your own blog instead of the comment section.) Or another way of stating it is like this, "I can listen to your old albums and enjoy those songs. Why aren't you guys challenging me with material that's different?" It's perhaps a catch-22 (whatever that means) but I hope (or fear) that Where the i Divides will fall into that same pattern. Maybe not. While I do have a certain approach to the way I craft a song and the types of sounds I create, I also am willing to let anything fly idea-wise. It's never good to kill an artistic idea before it's had the chance to prove itself "Worst Idea Ever" (Favorite quote for Pirate Idol? "Worst peg-leg ever.")

Anyway. Work say's I've got to stay until 5:30 these days. This last half-hour may turn into blogging time. (I love getting paid to sit and do nothing. It's almost as great as having a job where I actually want to work because the work is fulfilling...)

More later. Or never. You figure I figure. Yeah.

A month later

I started Chemo treatment for my Hodgkin's Lymphoma last Friday. I'll be posting updates on my general malaise and mal-con-tent-ed-ness in the upcomming weeks.

Till then, I've actually been getting some decent sleep for a F*&King change and I've had a lot more focus.

This means I've been working more on the band's collective media pile.
Check it.

I didn't get to go to the Monster Truck Rally this weekend. It's actually really sad what happened, but I got a refund for my tickets.

I "strolled" on over to Garfield Minus Garfield. These two made me laugh.

Yeah.

The band recorded Running to Stant Still for the Triple M "covers" album of the Joshua Tree. I'll be adding my guitar tracks tonight and tomorrow and then mixing while I'm in Hawaii. Ever since I found out that I might have access to some studio monitors, I've been very excited about this trip to Kauai. Before that, I wasn't as interested in going... yeah...

So that's that. The band also played it's usual last Sunday of the month residency at the Jazz Estate in Milwaukee. We've gotten much more acclimated to the room and I think it translates to the audience that we feel like we belong in there.

29.5

Today marks a significant moment in my life. 29.5 doesn't mean much to many people, and with the speculative nature of the reference, I don't really want to get to revelatory.

Needless to say, yesterday's news coupled with events earlier this week and the forthcoming excursion to the north side of Kaua'i next week, I'm sitting on the verge of lots of new territory to cover.

While on vacation, I expect to finish the damn album. (the monster that's been hanging over my head forEVER!). My friend I'm visiting has offered to attempt to scrounge up a pair of studio monitors for me to us. Nice. Ideally, I would have something like the KRK RP5G2 Rokit G2 Powered 2-Way Active Monitors, but I'm going to hold off. Once Over the Terminal Moraine is in the can, I won't need to be doing such high end work for a while (until the next album, Doomsday Annie).

Other than that, not much else in the way of news.

Will be attending "Tim and Eric" tonight at the Barrymore. I'm looking forward to that.

Things here have gotten incredibly insane. I finally have health insurance. I went to the doctor last Friday. I have an appointment with her in a few hours to find out "the news".

Don't get all worked up about anything.

I'm not.

Except for that crap they pumped into me. That was an unpleasant experience.

Sigh.

First post on a first year

Something about Hogwarts and the Hot Tub... emphasis on the second "t".  That kid is so dang cute.  

Went to Red River with the ABQ crew and had a blast.  Had a bit too much of a blast and ended up blacking out.  Felt totally embarrassed about that.  It's happened  one time to many now.  Gotta give it  rest.  All of it.

I found that when I returned, all of the stresses I'd forgotten over the weekend had returned like a flood.  Jezzy.  Can't get out of the dark tunnels I'm running through right now.  Whatever... things gotta change soon.  They will.  I'm optimistic (like that Radiohead song).

I'll post some pics when I get them uploaded... didn't take that many though.

Word.