I am just amazed at the variety of merchandise Bad Dragon sells. I didn't know I could impress my classmates with a Bad Dragon backpack or messenger bag, or decorate my apartment with a Duka Cola poster, but now I think I need to. And why do they even make a goddamn tape measure? Oh wait, I know why...

This guy's videos have helped me learn a bunch of songs on guitar; thought I'd share.

His old channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/privettricker
His current channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA.....v6kC5J6vpGBdDQ

Between his two channels, he's got over 2,000 instructional videos, and he's still making more, and (I think) taking requests.

That moment when you've been trying for the past hour to figure out a song on guitar, getting irrationally pissed off at your inability to get it, then you realize it's like 2 a.m. and you've slept for five of the past thirty-six hours and that miiiiight just have something to do with it.

But why would I go to bed?

Waiting to find out if it goes through. Kind of hoping it does.

Very important.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uknDkAw-tU

I meant to finish writing like three songs today so I can start recording tomorrow, but then I just spent all day listening to Car Seat Headrest instead Mainly "It's Only Sex."

YOU SHOULD BE LISTENING TO CAR SEAT HEADREST

My top 5 songs:
It's Only Sex
Fill In the Blank
P.O.W.
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Fag
The Drum

Yeah and I'm totally convinced he's ONE OF US.

"Fill in the Blank" by Car Seat Headrest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkCT9CG9SYI

I'm back from some international travels (which is why I haven't posted music for the past two weeks), and I've been talking to a friend about starting a band. We've played with each other before (music, that is), and I think we're both finally getting serious about it. He insists that I should be our primary songwriter, so I've been doing that. Hopefully we'll have some demos recorded by the end of the summer. Probably not. But hopefully.

Also I went full furfag on my flight home today and watched Zootopia multiple times. It was a nine-hour flight. Do the math on that one.

Yup. And it was good. Really good.

But first, since it's now officially the 23rd:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME MUTHAFUCKAS!

I'm 20. Now I can't blame all the stupid shit I do on being a teenager; I'll just have to think of more creative ways to cover my ass, since growing up clearly isn't an option. I'm secretly like thirteen and always will be.

So anyway, this is the awesomest video of them all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx4.....tS9vFBi-T-UUOx

This is what I get for naming the partscaster I'm building "Squirrel." My Excel spreadsheet of parts I need for it is titled "Squirrel Parts."

Can't tell if I'm just over-tired or if that's actually funny.

As a friend of mine once said, "I'm about to groan with displeasure!"

My family is really good at planning the most inconveniently-timed vacations possible. One is right smack in the middle of my summer break, which makes it pretty much impossible for me to get a job/internship/do anything productive. The other vacation overlaps FAU, which would have been a super convenient con for me to go to since it's extremely local. Now I have to delay popping my con cherry even further.

With little else to do, I'd love to just sit around and play music all the time, but all my friends at home who I've jammed with in the past actually DO have jobs/internships/whatever.

My Gibson badly needs a setup, but since it's my good (read: 'valuable') guitar, I'm not nearly confident enough in my amateur luthiery skills to mess with it too much on my own. So I'm gonna have to take it to a shop and be without it for a little while.

My brother has taken to smoking absurd amounts of pot, which makes the upstairs (where both our rooms are) smell like that pretty much all the time he's home. It gets annoying after a while. The kid's sixteen. I don't even want to think about how he can afford that.

I got a sunburn today. It doesn't hurt, but I look stupid.

I'm getting real tired of Bernie Sanders's campaign. I love the guy, and it would be great if he could somehow manage to pull the nomination out of his ass, but I'm pretty sick of a lot of his supporters' attitudes. The next person who threatens to vote Trump over Hillary in my presence will probably be stabbed. If only I could stab people over Facebook...

The air conditioning in my house kind of sucks. The upstairs is too hot and the basement is too cold. Old house problems.

Well, that's all the complaining I have to do tonight. My life doesn't suck, I promise! I just gotta slip into 'crotchety old man' mode once in a while and vent a little. Take it with a grain of salt. And on the bright side, I get to play with my neighbor's puppies tomorrow.

Another new rock band YOU MUST LISTEN TO! These guys are so old school; I love it. Check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNEN9YigoBE

FA was down for a while, which forced me to actually be a functional human being for a day and a half. Nice change of pace.

Anyway, it looks like only one of my submissions has come up missing. Rather than just re-uploading the same thing, I'm gonna go ahead and record it again, hopefully better.

He's my new favorite blues musician. Kind of has to be, right?

Has so far consisted mostly of Wussy and Diarrhea Planet. Preliminary results are encouraging. Here's some selections:

White Girls (Diarrhea Planet): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8euSV-jEoM
The Sound of my Ceiling Fan (Diarrhea Planet): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeYjtb1-x-0
Platinum Girls (Diarrhea Planet): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLsZzeLlXTQ
Mayflies (Wussy): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYMkVn9u8vU

...my favorite song right now is called "Ghost with a Boner" and it's by a band called Diarrhea Planet?

Stop looking at furry porn and study for your goddamn diff e.q. test.

John Stabb, the singer of History Repeated, and formerly the singer of the (extremely) influential D.C. hardcore punk band Government Issue, has stomach cancer. Not only am I a fan, but he's also a friend of my dad's and a pretty cool dude.

His GoFundMe has already received a lot, including contributions from R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, and from Dischord Records, but they could still use more. Medical expenses suck. There was a benefit show I went to last weekend, which fucked my hearing for a couple days. In other words, it was awesome.

So if you've heard of Government Issue, or if this inspires you to go listen to their stuff, or even if you just want to help a cool guy out, consider donating. More information is here: https://www.gofundme.com/7ynrv45w

(Insert that Freddy Mercury meme.)

Just got wind of the events at VancouFur, and I gotta say, that's pretty damn cool.

Continuing to flaunt my current obsession with Chuck Cleaver's songwriting, here's some lyrics.

From a song called "Disappointed":

"And when I die and they come to take me home,
I will not go without a battle, no
At the end of the line, I'm afraid that I will find
I spent all my time disappointed."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IJERoxBOA8

I came home for spring break, but it doesn't feel like home without my dog around.

Apparently I've been here a year as of yesterday. Guess that means I'm probably not going away. Shit.

My 3-CD Leadbelly anthology came today. 'Nuff said.