this is my blog. in it, i bitch about things, make fun of people, exercise the awesome power of my noodle, rant, rave, critique architecture, art, politics, foreign policy, and express my constant need to urinate. like a bitch. i live on diet coke, and i like wearing hats. stop fighting it and just fall in line and love me; i swear, you people and rebelling against the inevitable...

Monday, May 30, 2005

Punctual

"people like me because i'm polite and punctual"

not really. maybe. maybe some people do. but that's not the point.

i'm writing in this blog way too often, and its starting to confuse me. up until recently, i think i mostly used this space to keep people in my life (but physically distant) abreast of what's going on with me. but more and more, since i've lost the habit of going to drink coffee and write (it always felt ridiculously pretentious, but damnit, it was fun...) i've been using this as a dumping ground for all the shit that's just floating in my head. all my lonely shit, and anxious shit, and other assorted shit, are finding their way to the blog. and i'm left wondering what to do.

i'm supposing i won't stop it. but i just wish... i wish there was less shit. i think that's part of it. the introspection i lapse into when i'm in texas has been running for far longer than its normal time limit. i'm no longer sifting through actual shit, but busying myself digging into my foundations, the things i already know about and am alright with. i've run out of useful topics. i'm just busy knocking my own legs out from under me.

i don't think its actually that extreme yet, but it feels bad. more and more, or perhaps still and still, i keep tracking down old romantic involvements, thinking about the past, checking profile sites for friends and enemies from lifetimes ago. because that's the issue. i finished one lifetime, and i'm still kicking around without having started another one. but damnit, its time baby. its time.

i saw chris today, and that was really good. but (and chris, i know you read this) theres some tension at the moment. i just wish it were easier for us to be fixtures in each others lives. but right now, it isn't, and that's unfortunate, but its all right. what i get stuck on is the fact that people can effect each other so much, often without even knowing it. so began the pseudo-philosophical musings...

i feel dead.

i should go to bed so i can be productive tomorrow.

goodnight.

Saturday, May 28, 2005

Here I Sit

brokenhearted
came to sh*t
but only sat reading my girl molly ivins. because she's the only news i can take. eff-yeah, mother-effer!

you know the worst part of vomiting when your stoned and drunk beyond knowing your name? actually, there's no real "worst part"... every aspect of that experience is absolutely horrible. its now officially happened to me twice. zach's last day of school was thursday, so in celebration, there was lots of partying. at our house. had he gone out with people as planned, all might have been fine. instead, he brought people home. and woe betide any of you who think josh can go to sleep in his bed in his room right under a raging party... oh no... god forbid i should take care of myself and be alone if necessary...

anywhoo. there was smoking. and drinking. and drama. and a drive to the local shisha bar (that part was really fun, saving my leaving my i.d. there and us having to go back and get it...). and there was a lady in the grocery store with some crazy hair, dawg, and zach and a friend both tried to get pictures of her with their camera phones. since they were stoned at the time, i'm not sure how low-key they were. but hey, its a party!

but yes, i blew chunks all over the bathroom. and i hugged that toilet for an hour, in my estimation. just. not. moving. the key, was to not. move. it was an experience, indeed it was. and now its over and life can continue.

i am fascinated with cosmetics. i will read beauty magazines also, but i love cosmetic catalogues. i will leaf through them over and over again, looking at all the lushly displayed creams and lotions and powders. i will analyze every color of eyeshadow, wonder what color foundation i would need, gaze at the millions of kinds of lip-products displayed... i *heart* cosmetics. i even own a few products, but i never wear them. my favorite thing to do is actually to make my face look as though i've been in a deep freeze for a few days. not an especially flexible look...

so cosmetics. and the marketing of beauty. bronzers and shimmering powders, and moisturizers and skin rejuvenating treatments. i thank god that, even if i were a woman, i would never, ever, HAVE to wear mascara, though i probably would. but my lashes-that-make-women-jealous make it less of a problem. i fail to understand beauty in many ways, and maybe that's part of my infatuation with cosmetics. i only understand products. if that's true, that's really sad.

i'm house-sitting for dad and audrey tonight. they are at some relative's graduation in dallas. five hour drive at best. more at worst. so they took off early this morning and come back tomorrow. i'm here to watch the dogs and make sure the house doesn't burn down or something. the crotchety old boy dog lies under the desk licking his crotch. the sappy girl dog lies right behind my chair, so if i try to roll back, i'll roll over her. the young pretty one seems to be lounging downstairs, waiting for her mistress to come back. she lies by the front door, still but slightly anxious. the puzzlement is palpable.

i am trying to do something with my evening. i'm bored. friday night, after the previous evening's debauchery, i stayed in, piddled around online until late in the morning, then slept. and slept. and slept and slept and slept. i got out of my bed at nine thirty to move to the couch, slept through the alarm on my phone set for eleven, and roused at about one, when zach got home from work. sloth, thy name is joshua. so tonight, i want to DO something.

i keep trying to call chris, but she is incommunicado. i actually just scored a minor victory. after the fourth call today, her boyfriend frank (who hates me) suggested that he would tell her i called when she arrived home. i thought it was a great idea myself. he can be such an irritating... irritation. lets leave it at that. but i didn't go in to work today (they're behind on a project (big surprise) so weekend is open) even though i told rebecca i would, and was supposed to go in to try and get to know cute coworker ibrahim, who she is sure is interested in me. i don't want to get to know people right now. i want to be insular and boring, and just sit with someone i know well and is no work, and have a good damn time. hence the attempt to reach chris. i want raw fish and funny. give it to me.

my powerbook should be here by mid-week next week. i am half-way to orgasm just thinking about it.

recently, along with beauty, there have been a great many other things i fail to understand. i'm sure i've mentioned that i don't understand people. but i realize now that i don't even understand me. i do, but in some ways i don't. or i sort of understand, but i don't know how i got that way. i just... there are some things i will never know.

iron and wine inspired thoughts: every individual is such a vast accumulation of knowledge and experience, and no matter how close someone is to them, no matter how much they tell the world about what they know, they take most of it to the grave with them. they are their own quiet little arc of experiences that will never be known once their physical body has died. insular and discrete. life on this planet is rather lonely, when one takes this into account. perhaps that's why there is such a crush of people blogging. its the newest way to trick yourself into thinking that your words, your thoughts, your life, have some degree of permanence beyond your corporeal being. but as i said, its all just a trick.

what is loneliness? i mean, i have a working definition. i'm well acquainted with loneliness. but what or why is it. why does the human creature seem born into it with the (divine) directive "go out and find someone"? and this should all be taken with a grain of salt. i'm a fucked up little tool who has issues of their own. i'm trying to school myself into being happy with myself, thereby helping to alleviate the pressure of having to find happiness through others. but that's not the only task before me.

my brother has become more healthily vocal about my thinking about things too much. by which i mean, rather than hating me and telling me i'm an ass-hole when i over-analyze, he is coming to recognize it as a sign of me being me, and just says "yeah, you think about everything way too much." he keeps informing me that he'll find his own truth with his own eyes, and it may not be much like mine. true enough, but difficult for me to deal with in some ways.

however, he also said something slightly disturbing. something along the lines of not wanting to know what people honestly think of him. because what if they don't like him, or take issue with some of his personal traits? he's an interesting one, my brother. and lord knows what the future will hold for him.

i keep having an image come back from an old episode of "courage: the cowardly dog". termites are eating the house or something. eustace is off somewhere getting knee-deep in shit, and muriel is alone, and the house is being eaten top down, the walls just disappearing around her. so in her terror, she does the one thing she knows how to do; she runs to the kitchen and frantically begins making a pie, which finishes in the oven just as courage saves the day. for some reason, this image is on mid to heavy rotation in my head, and i'm sure i know why. i just wanted to share, i guess.

well, chris has "other plans" and mom and rachel are doing something on their own, and zach is stoned with his friends, so god knows what they're planning on doing. but i'll be taking myself out for some food, and maybe a romp at the bookstore with some coffee, and a pad, and a pen. and i suppose i'll squeeze this one off, because its gone on far too long. happy reading, everyone.

josh

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Damn, Yo...

i have officially ordered a mac powerbook. it should get here before the end of this coming week. i haven't even been thinking about it, but when i do, i have to admit, its all pretty damn cool. now, when i get mugged and robbed, you will all know that it was for my gargantuan, cock-like, humungoid phallic symbol of geeky self-worth, the powerbook. i have yet to figure out what to name it.

in other news, i drank sooo much friday night, and then smoked on top of it. so basically, all i remember about the evening is that i felt like i needed to vomit. but its all over now. i never want to do drugs again. and i need to go to the gym today. maybe that will help me shake off this sodden feeling... fuck, i have much to do. school starts soon. who's ready for college physics? i am! i am! i mean, i get to take it with my sister, so the class should be fun. and i need to check the parson's site for fall courses. and i need to... umm... enroll for a CAD course! yeah!

in a fit of what-the-fuck-i'm-an-artist-ness, i opted for the 17 inch powerbook. really, thats even more electronic cock than I might want or need. i'm looking forward to using it to download lots of porn in a safe, apple-bright, virus-free environment. and creating lots of fun architectural drawings, etc. i'm looking forward to it. lets leave it at that.

but really, i need porn in my life again...

i've been thinking it would be fun to try and get on an mtv dating show. just to be on it, do badly, get nexted in a few minutes, but make everyone else on it look really stupid and shallow and bad. then again, i hyperventilate on private dates, without cameras crawling all over me. but its still a devout wish. it would be funny. well, i'll be in nyc soon... maybe...

i've also been thinking that if nothing else, i can try and get a job in nyc working at "Toys in Babeland". i mean really, they're the best sex-toy-shop in existence, i'm willing to try it all before i begin hawking it, and it would be a blast and a half. i would be beyond honored to be a part of TIB. definitely a cool back-up.

so may is almost over. i have a bajillion mosquito bites. my head feels like a wad of cotton. but robot chicken is on tonight. and rachel will be home soon. and and and...

and i saw "kung fu hustle", and it was the best thing ever. it has been a long, looong time since i have had so much fun with a movie. i highly recommend it to everyone. speech, this includes you. and office, you as well. its better than anything else, ever.

on a sour note, i was supposed to hang out with rebecca from work last night and drink a little, smoke a little, go see a movie. but i was so tired that i had to cancel, and i feel like a rat about it all. but all i wanted to do last night was eat dinner and go to sleep. perhaps next weekend i can manage to actually go out and have fun with her. but meantime, i'm a rat. a stone cold, evil, sewer-dwelling rat. and my name is not splinter, so no, this does not make me cool. it just makes me a rat.

really though, i need porn.

other news... not much. life continues, i'm excited about my plans, and i have a computer coming soon. things are looking up. but damn my brain isn't working...

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

I'm Back, Sort Of

i'm back. back in san antonio. things could be better, i'll admit it. its like if you normally live with satan, but every now and then you both take a vacation out of hell. and you go to heaven, see all your pals, check out the place, have a real blast. but then, that week is over and you go back home. and granted, home is familiar... you have your old burning rocks and pools of brimstone, but face it, no matter how comfortable, home is hell. you live in hell.

i'm not saying i don't love my family or my friends here. i'm not saying san antonio is without its own brand of slow, sleepy charm. but i really need to get this off my chest for a second.

I FUCKING HATE IT HERE!!!

i have nowhere else to really funnel all this right now, so here we are at the blog. texas is just fine, sort of... many millions of people seem to do all right living here, and are happy here, and its not fair to say they're ALL delusional. but i, am not happy here. i think i am not capable of being happy here. it doesn't work. and the facts are all the more cutting when i dive back in after a blissful week in new york. sure, it was intense, and at times things were a bit scary and overwhelming,

BUT I DON'T GIVE A DAMN!!!

it hurts to be here. and i've stopped chronically overeating, which was my first method of dealing with the stress of returning home. and i've stopped smoking my brains out. (pretty much occurred at the same time as the overeating...) and i'm going to yoga and the gym, and i'm trying to get out of the house and write every now and then. and i'm trying to keep my plans on track. but you know, it all just makes me sadder, because its so damn hard, and i realize now more than ever before that i need to get out. i'm tired of simply subsisting. i'm tired of getting by. i am sick of it.

i want, more than anything else, to feel alive again. and so that's what i'm trying to accomplish.

if all goes according to plan, i only have three or four more months here. i need to take some courses this summer, take some courses this fall, and start working on applications, because in the name of all that is holy, i'll be getting a masters in architecture, and nothing in the world is going to stop me. i am getting out of here and going somewhere where it is possible for me to be happy.

i'm leaving it all behind.

i'm going away.

and my cd-rom drive still won't work...

fuck it all.