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Nov 11, 2005

it was very foolish of me to do that quiz. foolish, foolish me.

I'm writing a song that's coming along very well. The basic chord progression goes: Eb C Eb C Gm Ab
Eb C Eb C Ab F
Obviously there's a lot of variation. A couple of bars in particular were stuck in my head all last night, which I suppose means the song is "catchy."

I have a very slow songwriting cycle. I'll play the song for about an hour and come up with maybe one guitar thing to add. And then I'll be humming the words for an entire day and come up with maybe a verse, or half a verse, of new lyrics in that entire time. Once I've got those bits done I'll spend half a day sitting in front of my computer trying to coax it into giving me phat beatz. And then I'll spend months trying to schedule a time when my roommate and I can sit down and learn to play the song together.

I can't tell if this is because I'm busy all the time or just because I'm overly careful. Hum. I really do intend to post a song at some point. I just keep wanting to do a new one, and I keep getting new new ones before I finish the old new ones.
Nick ::: 1:38 PM ::: 1 comments

Nov 8, 2005

Apparently people are doing this tag quiz thing. I'm not very good at these. I'm like the guy from High Fidelity who can't figure out what his top five records are. I read too much into it.

Five Snacks I Enjoy

-Sweet tea
-Broccoli
-Ramen noodles
-Sushi
-Seriously, I don't eat.

Five Bad Habits

I have to limit it to just five!?

-Being rude, acerbic, sarcastic, patronizing, arrogant, holier-than-thou, obtuse, argumentative, judgmental, snobby, and otherwise a joy to be around.
-Spending huge amounts of time on projects I'm too shy to allow to come to fruition.
-Over-editing copy that richly deserves it. This is part of the first one but it's very specific.
-Having ideas and not writing them down.
-Deciding to do it later.

Five Biggest Joys

-When someone notices something I did well, and says, "hey, you did that well."
-Fingertips
-Stage rush (haven't had it in a while, sadly)
-Words or music or pictures or whatever that come out perfectly, effortlessly.
-Finally showing someone that I am, deep down, a well-loved old plush rabbit.

Five Things I Would Never Wear Again

All of these are lies. Given that something is in my closet, I will wear it. So these are clothes I don't like, defined specifically on a case-by-case basis.

-Something I'd rather not wear but do anyway because I've got it: heavily branded stuff (A&F etc)
-Something I hate to wear but do anyway because sometimes I wait too long to do the laundry: mismatched socks.
-Something I have never, and will never, wear: a mottled gray sweatshirt with a picture of wolves, kittens, or horses on the front.
-Something I refuse to wear because it's so goddamn trendy: a hat. Seriously, think about it. Be it a trucker hat, a retro-20's fedora, or a fake-old frayed SKI RESCUE cap, a man's hat is invariably a faddish status symbol.
-Something I once wore and would like to wear again, but am afraid to, as I've had a bad experience: contact lenses

Five Favorite Television Shows

I don't like television very much. These are the few, the proud, the ones I'll actually tune in for if I know they're on.

-The Daily Show
-CSI
-South Park




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um....








Five Fictional Characters I Would Date

-Rogue from the X-Men, if only it weren't for the whole not-touching thing. Given that circumstance, the second-hottest mutant would probably be Storm. (Both of these are the comic book versions. Anna Pacquin is too emo and Halle Berry sucks. Famke Janssen, on the other hand...)
-Rosa Saks from Kavalier & Clay
-The Bride from Kill Bill
-Pussy Galore from Goldfinger
-Death from Sandman -- it's kind of ridiculous that I have two comic book characters here, but fuck it, Death is hot.

Nerdy note: If George Lucas had bothered to do something productive in the first two prequels, like come up with a proper female Jedi character, she would be in here. But he didn't. Bastard.

I still can't believe I just did this. But then, I did have time to kill. Right, that's my excuse.
Nick ::: 10:54 PM ::: 0 comments

There's this wonderful woman at el rojo y negro who is in charge of business affairs and appears to have the brain capacity of a bowl of lukewarm pea soup. First, she has absolutely no idea what goes on upstairs. In the editorial department. Which is where, you know, they print the news. So she was completely unaware that I was hired; call me old-fashioned, but this seems like the sort of thing a manager of business should manage to make her business.

So, about two workdays after I was hired, I came to the office during my lunch break to do tax forms, because she works an earlier shift than I do. To my consternation, the receptionist informed me that pea-soup woman doesn't do tax forms anytime other than 2pm. It's a form, I explained to the receptionist. You give it to me, I fill it in, I give it back. There's no need for an appointment. If you want I'll do it now and have someone deliver it at 2pm. I have classes at 2pm.

I know, the receptionist replied, I understand. But she just doesn't do them.

The receptionist was even kind enough to go in the back and ask if an exception could be made for someone who showed up 45 minutes early. Apparently an exception could not be made. No tax forms could be allowed out of Soupy's room. Come back at 2pm.

I had a class I could afford to be late to about a week later, so I came in to do the forms. And of course she handed them to me, I filled them out, I handed them back. We hardly conversed until I mentioned that by this time I'd done about seven pages and was owed $70 for my work. At this point my filling out forms became a meeting, as she launched into a tirade of condescending little suggestions. "Didn't you go through the orientation website?" Yes, and it said to do tax forms, and the editors said I could do them later because you weren't around. "Well, they meant as soon as possible, not at your leisure." Well, it was your sacrosanct afternoon, not mine, lady! "Unfortunately we have very strict rules. You weren't an official employee until you filled out these forms. So you won't be paid for any work you did beforehand."

Oh, really.

I was instructed to talk to the editors about this. None of them know what to do. Fortunately, a final indignity affords me the chance to take the battle back to her. Just Sunday I got a little slip of paper that informed me that I had been entered into the Red & Black system. My e-mail address, nciazochi at randb.com, was ready for me.

Wait a minute. "nciazochi"??

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there's a reason I didn't describe her as alphabet soup. Apparently the challenge of telling the difference between an R and a Z, repeated several times across many pages of forms, was just too much for her. This doesn't just mean I have a silly science fiction e-mail address, though. I am now credited in the paper as Nick Ciazochi. If ever I get a paycheck, it will in all likelihood be made out to the mysterious Mr. Ciazochi.

You'll get yours, pea soup. One of these days...
Nick ::: 8:43 PM ::: 2 comments

Nov 6, 2005

acetylsalicylic:

Lots and lots of people going for the fast fix
Streaming in the analgesic swimming in the benzene
opiates in scads
Magic tape their mouths shut
Dress them up in one-armed suits
"Don't you want a fast fix?" just a little pin prick
They keep talking static talking bullets
diagnosis hangman
"yes I'll take a fast fix" Please stop talking static
If they say it fast enough pretending not to notice
how shallow and desperate for meaning they've become
Breathing intravenously I struggle with the odor
of a million people tightly wrapped in lies

So yes, I'll take it.
Give me analgesic.
Pump me full of nerve kill,
bury me in black fog,
remember me in song.

Coliseum death match singing in my front lobe
Somewhere in my head I'm worth a damn
worth a pin prick
Tap me out I'm worth much
Bleed out all the nonesuch
radio a walky talk "Playing all the hot shit"
Yellow teeth rattle in the hip pockets
of grinning success stories, coping with own bullet-speak
Marlowe marlowe "wherefore art thou JoJo?"
All the water washes straight on past the pill
a gaggy spluttered fibrillation gimme gimme buzz kill

So yes, I'll take it:
give me analgesic.
Pump me full of buzz kill,
bury me in black fog,
remember me alive.

(REFRAIN:
Everything I touch it turns to shit turns to shit
Everything I touch turns to shit shit shit)
Nick ::: 4:57 PM ::: 0 comments