RunningWithScalpels's Xanga

Motion City Soundtrack is BACK.

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:34:25 GMT

A few weeks ago Motion City Soundtrack, which is one of my top 5 favorite bands, (Fall Out Boy, Led Zeppelin, Panic! At The Disco, and The Beatles are the other four) released their new single on their website for ravenous fans like myself to snatch it up for free. When I saw them last September, "Even If It Kills Me" was a year old...so bottom line, they're a bit overdue for new material and an accompanying tour (And both times I've seen these gentlemen they've put on one HELL of a show, so I will definitely be hitting their next Connecticut show no matter what) so when this new single came out, I was very excited. The full CD is apparently out in January, sometime around my birthday, which is the 29th.

The new song, "Disappear" seems to be in the vain of their older stuff. It's less poppy than the stuff on "Even if it Kills Me" and "Commit This to Memory", and more along the lines of the sound of their debut "I Am the Movie", but slightly more polished sounding...if that makes any sense.

Here, I will even provide a comparison :P

This is the new song: Disappear

This is "Red Dress", off their first CD

The "revert" back to their old sound might alienate some of the newer bandwagon-y fans who were all "Zomgz MCSSSS" when their music was featured on Gossip Girl, but I don't think that it will hurt them in the long run.

Just for good measure here's two other songs of theirs from "Commit this to Memory" and "Even if it Kills Me" respectively. Justin Pierre's voice is amazing. No lie.

When "You're" Around is the acoustic version, the studio version is here.

Update: February 4th is their concert. I can't wait!

A peek into my iPod. Or Whatever.

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:53:07 GMT

You all know how I like doing these sort of "what I'm listening to these days" posts every so often...so it's due time for another one :)

Have a Cigar - Pink Floyd: This is one of those songs I know by synthesizer riff alone. Kind of like "Magic Man" by Heart and "Tom Sawyer" by Rush. This one is just really fun to drive home to, since I tend to use one hand like a musical conductor. It keeps me amused in bumper to bumper traffic, and keeps me from developing hypertension...so I'm all for it.

Congregation of the Damned - Atreyu: Their new CD is no Lead Sails, Paper Anchor, which I adored, but this song has been stuck in my head. And its one of the few songs with screaming that I can stand. I like "Bleeding is a Luxury" better though.

Yule Shoot Your Eye Out - Fall Out Boy: Emo Christmas songs FTW! Plus..."Merry Christmas, I could care less" about sums up my feelings about the holiday season this year since I'm still financially crippled from being fired. I swear if Justin gets me something worth more than about eighty bucks I'm gonna slap him, because I don't have the money to get him anything extravagant. I really don't want it to be a repeat of our anniversary where I spent a grand total of $50 and he spent god knows how much on my earrings...although I spent hours on that pack of "Reasons Why I Love You" cards. One of the things I'm getting him for Christmas is on the creative plane in the manner of that, and the other is me telling him "Go get your combat boots resoled and I'll pay for it".

Bad Romance - Lady GaGa: Who can't resist a little Lady GaGa? Especially when it gets stuck in your head within three minutes of hearing it.

Live Like We're Dying - Kris Allen: I've pretty much boycotted American Idol since the third season, when I lost all faith in the American Idol voters for letting fucking FANTASIA BARRINO win. They redeemed themselves slightly with Carrie Underwood, but then they didn't let Chris Daughtry win either. This song is pretty good. I can't judge what this dude's musical career will do based merely on this song, but it looks like people might have hit the nail on the head this year.

Breakeven - The Script: This is one of those songs that I hope to hell I will NEVER have to have on repeat for "OMG I so identify with this" reasons. Actually thinking about that makes me sick. It is catchy, and I have been digging their whole CD since I downloaded it last week.

White Liar - Miranda Lambert: I love Miranda Lambert and that twang-y quality in her voice. This song is not as "you're a douchebag, how dare you treat me like a piece of shit" as her other songs, like "Kerosene", "Gunpowder and Lead", and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend", but I still love it.

I Know, I Know, I Know - Tegan and Sara: Once you get used to their voices, their music kinda grows on you. Plus they're a Grey's Anatomy staple :)

Hot Mess - Cobra Starship: I gained a new appreciation for them when I saw them open for Fall Out Boy...and their songs are constantly stuck in my head.

Evacuate the Dance Floor - Cascada: Another one in the manner of Lady GaGa that manages to get stuck in my head. ALL THE FRIGGIN TIME.

Tik Tok - Kesha: The first time I heard this song it drove me nuts. The more I listened to it, what little of the 80's kid I have in me decided that the background music kinda sounds like a video game...Tetris perhaps...and then I learned the words...and it's pretty fun to sing obnoxiously in my car.

Vanilla Twilight - Owl City: I love "Fireflies", and this song is even better.

Baby Girl - Sugarland: I love Sugarland...and "Dear Mom and Dad, please send money, I'm so broke that it ain't funny" is pretty much the sentiment of my life at the moment. Even though my parents mom are is barely on speaking terms with me still. My Dad is a lost cause.

If You Only Knew - Shinedown: They're growing on me.

If you won the lottery what would be the first thing you'd buy and why?

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:05:13 GMT

A cute house next to a lake with beach rights

A year ago the answer to this would have been a Beemer 3-Series coupe...but I love my runty little Hyundai.

All I want is a cute little beach bungalow/cottage deal...nothing huge...and a decent enough chunk of beach to have beach bonfires.

I just answered this Featured Question; you can answer it too!

Strange sense of Deja Vu

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:20:25 GMT

If you've been reading this blog for more than a year, you might remember my incessant whining about the one who I referred to as "the other one" and his incessant need to throw himself at me while I was still with the "idiot ex"

Thankfully neither of those fools have reared their ugly heads in a long time since I, in no short order, told them both to piss up a flagpole and leave me the hell alone once Justin came along...(Year and five months as of yesterday...woohoo)

However, I'm finding myself in a similar situation again. It sucks because this time it involves someone who, once upon a time (like 3-4 years ago), I liked in that way, and I was convinced I was hopeless and lame/whatever cuz he didn't feel the same way. It also sucks because he is pretty cool and I don't I want this to completely come between us. On the other hand, unlike the last time this happened, I'm not miserable in my relationship (pretty much the opposite...like I said after this whole thing with Justin started, I'm done looking. He's it.) and looking for an out.

If circumstances were different, I would be peeing myself with excitement, and I would be willing to give it a shot.

But this is definitely a case of a day late and a dollar short.

Why does this seem to always happen to me...grr...apparently I become vastly more appealing whilst unavailable.

I told him not to waste his time waiting for me...it remains to be seen if he takes that call.

Boo. Lunch break is over. Sorry for the rant but it feels good to get it off my chest

Meh this is a test

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:52:06 GMT

I downloaded Opera Mini to my blackberry as a browser, it definitely makes Xanga not quite so messy :)

About the only functionality I see not working is the xangazon currently whatever thing...which I suppose I can get over

Thanksgiving and whatever.

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:01:22 GMT

I haven't been able to conjure enough patience to blog on my crackberry Blackberry these last few days (and my laptop while at the boy's) so this will be a bit rambly, but whatever.

Presently I'm at Panera Bread mooching their wi-fi finishing up what's left of half a Frontega Chicken sandwich and chicken caesar salad, listening to Pandora, and finding new songs to download to amuse myself at work.

My salad and iced tea. Already ate the sandwich =P

Thanksgiving was pretty much perfect. I went to Justin's house after I got out of work on Wednesday. I was irritated to see that cleaning spree was for naught.
This is his dresser. Fail.

We hung around for the night and his dad made us some awesome pumpkin spice egg nog. The next morning I had to practically push Justin's butt outta bed and into the shower after I was wide awake at 7:30 [Curse having a normal-houred job...I can't sleep late on days off now!] and took a shower. It took me threatening to wring my still damp hair out on him and the bed to get him moving haha.

Once he took a shower and was awake, we headed off to Southington to his aunt's house. His aunt lives literally two minutes up the road from where I work, so while we were driving there he tells me "If the roads are complete shit, go to Auntie Mare's house I don't want you driving home". Nice of him to completely volunteer his aunt's house to me. When we get there he says nothing of this to his aunt, so I think I'll just stick to back-ish roads when the weather sucks. Once everyone got there I had to go through the obligatory "How's the job, what exactly do you do again?" thing with all his relatives since I've changed jobs since the last time I saw them.

I guess I'm part of the family now, I got included in the secret santa thing they do every year. I drew Justin's Aunt Debbie. Apparently she likes gift cards to a jewelry store in West Hartford, and that's what everyone gets her, so that should be easy. She hoards them and after a few birthdays and christmases worth, she has about $2000 worth of gift cards and goes and buys herself a nice piece of jewelry, which they usually give her a tidy discount on because she pays with so many damn gift cards. Sounds like a nice deal to me...haha. We had the traditional breakfast his family does on holidays and headed home around noon. While on the way back, there was an obscenely huge amount of traffic on the highway [you would think it was 4:45 on a Friday afternoon, not noon on Thanksgiving] so Justin's Dad weaseled his way around us and got off the highway. We followed him, and he took us through the side streets of Waterbury [Handy for me if the weather sucks/I can't deal with obscene amounts of traffic on my way home from work] Justin and I came to an intersection where some dude was driving a Nissan Cube. If you don't know what they look like, click here. I hate overly square and boxy cars like that, the Honda Element, and the Scion XB. So does Justin. The weather wasn't completely blue-balls cold on Thursday, so we had our windows down, and so did the dude in the Cube. We drive by and Justin screams out his window "Dude, ugly car." It was funny but rude at the same time. If someone drove by me and screamed that my car is ugly I'd be kinda pissed. Then again, the guy's driving a rolling bread box that, I shit you not, has a shag carpet on the dash [Justin's aunt drives one, AND Jess and I looked at one at the Nissan dealer her mom works for]. I still couldn't believe that he did that though. Definite facepalm moment if I've ever seen one haha. Once we got back out on the highway, Justin and his dad decided to race each other. [Man in his 50s in a Buick vs. a 23 year old in a Mitsubishi Eclipse, you tell me who won...haha] Justin's mom reamed him when he got home because the exit before we got to his house he got right up on the ass of this antique Rolls Royce someone had out for a cruise. She made it sound like Justin was gonna rear-end it, but he wasn't.

We decided to forgo the insanity that would have been Thanksgiving with my dad's relatives, since last year they scared the crap out of him. While Justin's dad was cooking the turkey, Justin decided to pile a ton of crap on the fire pit and light one last bonfire. Now he thinks it should be a tradition...which I think is a good idea.

This was when he first got it going.

This was when it was hot enough to singe the hair off my head.

Unfortunately, the fire burnt through the pile of wood quite quickly, but it was whatever, since the turkey was done anyway. After piling our plates we settled in the living room and watched Star Trek. I fell asleep about three quarters of the way through from the tryptophan coma that was trying its damnedest to take hold, but luckily it was only for like 10 minutes, and Justin didn't notice...because I would have gotten a jab in the side with his elbow. I also decided that ogling Chris Pine would be a more worthwhile use of my time than sleeping too.

After that, I decided to head home before I got another wave of exhaustion and drowsiness. Not before I was loaded down with tons of turkey, stuffing, and the like (since Justin and I were the only ones who ate the turkey as Bob and Georgia, his parents, are vegetarians).

Behold the wonder that is French Toast casserole, courtesy of Justin's Auntie Jo

Friday at work was uneventful. There was hardly any traffic, which was surprising since I work right by a mall.

Yesterday I spent the morning, and most of the afternoon watching Grey's Anatomy on DVD. I was pissed off because I had offered to take Justin to go see Ninja Assassin when he got out of work at 4...of course they went and changed his schedule so he had to work yesterday afternoon. We ended up going after he got out of work after all when I decided to peel myself away from Grey's Anatomy and bring him a couple of burritos from Taco Bell for dinner and told him later movie times. We ended up going with Andrew, Matt, and a few of his other friends. Bloodiest movie I've ever seen. Justin thought I was gonna hurl 10 minutes in. People being beheaded, limbs chopped off, blood spraying everywhere...needless to say that was pretty much a miserable hour and a half. The plotline was good, but the movie was just way too violent for me. Justin and his friends liked it. What I found funny was that despite how disgusting it was, the blood was so fake looking. Looked like someone stood there with red poster paint in a bottle and was kinda arbitrarily squirting it all over. Here's the trailer

I suppose if I was into that sort of thing I would have thoroughly enjoyed it, but it's whatever. I offered, and I kinda knew what I was getting myself into.

After that Justin dragged me to Danny's barn to hang out with the guys. It's fine to hang out up there in the summer, but now it's just too cold. After a while I was freezing, and Justin finally took a hint and decided to leave...After all it was 1:30 in the morning and I had to drive.

All in all a fun few days. Back to work tomorrow :(

On a different note, Justin says he'll go see Motion City Soundtrack with me in February. Yessss :) Just need $45 for tickets now.

Blogging from my Crackberry =D

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:53:32 GMT

Traffic was pretty much non-existant this morning so I have a few minutes to kill before punching in (Now that I've learned that Xanga on here DOES work, albeit with a very odd layout)

Last night Justin and I went to see "Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day". It was alright. He loved it, but then again he's a guy, so watching people having their heads blown off for two hours is his idea of a grand old time, whereas it isn't mine. That said, I did like it, so it wasn't a complete waste of time and money.

Just gotta survive today and find enough work to keep myself amused til 4:30, its the end of the month so the workload is dwindling. I'll have to call Justin at lunch and find out what the deal is for tomorrow, I know last year he didn't trust me to get up on time and made me come over the night before. Then I'm sure it will be the usual breakfast with his family. Then for later (since we both want to avoid the awkwardness that was Thanksgiving with my dads relatives from last year) Justin has conned his dad into making us a turkey (his parents are vegetarians) and we'll have our own little celebration. I'm looking forward to it.

Ughhh time to go punch in :(

Booo :(

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:39:41 GMT

No internet again. If by some stretch of miracle this posts from my blackberry (I say stretch of miracle because the site is a disheveled mess) happy thanksgiving and now that my laptop is fixed I shall bring it to Justin's tomorrow and post from there.

The book banning debate.

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:06:08 GMT

You may or may not have heard of the horrific home invasion that occurred in Cheshire, CT back in July 2007. If not, look here and learn about the atrocity. I now work probably all of 10 minutes from where this happened, and Steven Hayes is from a town 20 minutes from here, and a woman I worked with at Rose Haven knew him years ago, but that's kind of irrelevant.

For the sake of poor Dr. Petit, I wish they would just put the two sick fucks who did this to his family to death so they can stop dragging this crap out in the news...I mean it has been a topic of discussion in local news at least monthly in the nearly two and a half years since it happened with spikes in coverage for major developments. I personally believe that when these two sick fucks are put to death that they should be tied to a chair and locked in a burning building (perhaps during a fire department's practice burn) and be allowed to torch to death (similar to the way they murdered Dr. Petit's wife and daughters) They did not afford their victims a humane death, so they shouldn't be given the luxury of a mere needle in the arm.

Anyway, now the situation is back in the news because someone decided to write a book about the atrocity. I honestly have no clue why the book is even being published, everyone involved is under a gag order...that said, the author of the book somehow managed to get a few jailhouse interviews with the scrawny rat-faced looking one of the pair and based his book on this.

Now the big deal is that local libraries are debating whether or not to carry the book. As of yesterday, the library in Cheshire decided that they will carry the book and it's striking a nerve. People argue that it's distasteful, an insult to the husband/father of the victims, ect. Unfortunately there is a little piece of the constitution called the first amendment and the whole freedom of speech thing.

As disgusting and horrific as the crime may be (and how shady the means of obtaining the information contained within the book were) there is no reason to ban the book. I'm sure, especially in Cheshire, being where the crime happened, that this book will not be a prominently displayed "must read: selection, however if someone wants to read the book for whatever reason, be it curiosity, enjoyment of true-life crime novels, or research into the mind of a lunatic, for example, the book should be available to them. If you don't want to read it, then DON'T read it. That's your choice and your right, just as much as it is anyone's right to read it.

Personally I will not be running out to pick up a copy, but you don't see me crying to ban the thing.

I also think that since this fool who wrote the book was in blatant violation of the gag order, he should give every last red cent generated by the sale & publicity of the book should be given to Dr. Petit to go towards the emotional trauma he has surely been subjected to with the media circus. Obviously money will not bring back his family, but it's the least this fool of an author can do. If he hadn't written the damn book, the news probably would have stayed fairly quiet until the trial for these idiots starts (which I think is January).

That's my rant of the day.
Books should never be banned, as humans we are perfectly capable of NOT reading something if it offends us

It's a bird, it's a plane...

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:10:02 GMT

It's my laptop resurrected from the dead :)

Justin thought I fried the motherboard, I knew I killed the AC adapter. The battery is still shot, but $20 got it up and running again. Thank you Amazon :)

Should make me more apt to blog again. We hope =P