The job’s going pretty well too. only three months in and I got a small promotion. I now work night audit two nights a week, which means I get manager powers for 8 hours a night and am responsible for the hotel’s financial paperwork. No title change, but hey, I got a raise and my name on the manager on duty wall. Suck it!

Who else is amazed at how batshit crazy the republicans have gone over the last few months? I mean, I expected them to brood and pout during this administration, I never thought we’d have to deal with the “normal” neo-cons suddenly turning into wild-eyed conspiracy theorists threatening armed coups.  had lots of fun at first poking at them and tearing their conspiracies to shreds on political forums, but lately it’s become more disturbing and scary then amusing.  These people are NUTS.

AWKWARD SUBJECT CHANGE.

So yeah, music. 2009 has been a great year for musicphiles.  I’m really digging the explosion of the hazy beach-music scene. I always dug that sound to begin with, shit, Panda Bear’s “Person Pitch” was my album of the year when it was released, but I never expected it to catch on to this extent. Kids are finally getting it again. It’s another musical renaissance out there, and I’m grateful to be living through it.  (Also, coolest invented genre of the year? Glo-fi. how fucking cool is that?)

Oh yeah! Concert! I broke my self-imposed exile from the live music scene once I was able to again. Saw Coldplay with Elbow at Walnut Creek. Pretty awesome show. I’ve never been the “goes to see bands people have actually heard of” guy but I had a great time.  Coldplay really knows how to show their fans a good time. Seeing Chris Martin cover “Billie Jean” 20 feet away from me is definitely a highlight of the year. And they recorded an entire album just for fans to give away for free at shows! How cool is that? Coldplay, you guys rock.  I’ll have to go to 50 Psych-jazz-improv-pretentious-beardo-noise shows to gain my music snob dignity back, but totally worth it!

I’m sitting at Via Cappaccino’s in rocky mount right now, enjoying the “not roanoke rapids”  atmosphere and catching up on the months of blogs and music I’ve missed out on(that’s decades in internet time). And oh yeah! About that leg spasm thing. A few minutes ago I stood up to get a refill and as I took a step my leg decided to go all epileptic on me.  I looked like an idiot, and you should have seen the people’s faces! haha It was worth it for that. The owner looked as if he was trying to decide whether to stick a spoon in my mouth or call the police.

No awesome updates here really.  I’m just finally back to a happy state of mind. I am surrounded by incredible, real people for the first time in a while, and I’m constantly reminded of how much time I’ve wasted not spending time with all the people I really care about. Life’s too short to waste time on shitty people, let me tell you.

Where to begin?

Life has been a rollercoaster for the past few years. I’ve grown more than I ever thought I was capable of. I’ve moved several times, had great jobs, been laid off, spent almost a year unemployed. If you are one of my friends then you know most of this already, for everyone else the readers digest condensed version will have to suffice.

In 2007, I managed to land a position as the Lighting Director at the (then) Randy Parton theater. It was an exciting point in my life. I had a decent salary for my age, I had an incredible loft apartment that was 100% mine for the first time in my life. I was independent, I had a plan, I didn’t worry about a thing. In June of 2008, the theater was closed for an “indefinite” period of time and all employees were laid off. Over the next 6 months of fruitless job searching, I became buried under an ever increasing mountain of debt. Adding to the stress of that situation, I lost track of 99% of my friends due to their moving away, making babies, or getting married(not necessarily in that particular order), basically becoming a hermit.

After starting back at my old job as tech at the college theater part time, I finally realized my dream of starting a record label in January of this year. Dubbed Neon Aztec Records, it’s been the one thing keeping me sane over these past few months, and I have big plans for it in the future. Last week I finally began a new job as desk clerk at the Hilton Garden Inn. It’s a humbling experience returning to the teeming masses of public service, but I barely notice. I’m just relieved to have a full-time source of income once again. I’m also back in school, and I’m taking 18 hours this semester. So there you have it, that pretty much catches us up on the life of Andrew. I’ll get back to posting nonsensical 4am ponderings on the meaning of life and music/literature reviews like I used to soon, I promise!