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One lost soul swimming in a fish bowl
 
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Below are the 16 most recent journal entries recorded in hemlockecho's LiveJournal:

    Thursday, April 9th, 2009
    8:52 pm
    Back from Egypt
    So... I went to Egypt a couple of weeks ago (and Jordan briefly and Amsterdam even more briefly). I just got back on Sunday. I met my dad there. It was good to spend some time with him. I hadn't seen him in over two years. Here's the eyecandy:
    pics )
    There's plenty more in fullsize here: Egypt and Jordan pics.
    Monday, January 21st, 2008
    6:40 am
    Sunday, January 13th, 2008
    12:27 am
    On Naabi Hill
    The walk up Naabi Hill is short; if it weren't for the heat, you could do it without breaking a sweat. The Masai word siringet means "land of endless space" and from here, you can see why it has that name. To the north and west, as far as the horizon, run the shortgrass fields of the Serengeti Plain. Landmarks are few - there are no trees, tall bushes, animals, or even termite hills that rose above a few inches. The one exception is the dirt path running north to Seronera. From here, approaching cars are seen not as glittering metallic dots, but as pale comets of dust and smoke.

    To the south the plain continues to the Crater Highlands and, almost obscured by clouds, Ol Doinyo Lengai, the Mountain of God. On this vast stretch you can see the grazing mega-herds of the Serengeti Migration - wildebeest, zebra, and Thompson's gazelles appear by the thousands as dots on the great plain of endless space.

    I stretch myself out on a boulder in the warm equatorial sun. A few minutes later, a brave agama lizard, brilliant purple and blue, joins me. Together we line in the sun, contemplating the bugs and the heat. I pull my camera out and snap a picture of my friend and then, inexplicably, the empty sky.

    Soon I hear footsteps behind me. I look up to see an African tour guide, South Asian tourists in tow. He regards me warily; I haven't bathed in a few days and haven't shaved in even more.

    "Mambo" I say, in greeting.

    "Mombo por," he says, smiling. "Habare safari?" How was your safari?

    "Ndzuri sana." Very good I say and list the animals I saw: "simba na twiga na tembo na pundamilea...".

    He asks something else, of which I only catch "simba", lion, and then he indicates with his fingers hthat he wants to know how many lions we saw.

    "Saba." Seven, which is incorrect but is as high as I can count in Swahili.

    "Chui?" Leopards?

    "Hapana" No.

    "Hapana chui," he says shaking his head in sympathy.

    "Hapana chui," I repeat. "Ndzuri sana". No leopards. Very good.
    Friday, September 30th, 2005
    2:05 am
    Modern Folk, 101:
    1. Iron & Wine - Bird Stealing Bread
    2. Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
    3. Wilco - Reservations
    4. Okkervil River - A Stone
    5. Bonnie Prince Billy - The Way
    6. Elliott Smith - Waltz #2 (XO)
    7. Hayden - you were loved
    8. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - The High Party (solo)
    9. Hayden - Street Car
    10. Iron & Wine - Sea and the Rhythm
    11. Ron Hawkins - Small Victories
    12. Owen - Nobody's Nothing
    13. Kings of Convenience - Know How
    14. New Amsterdams - Forever Leaving
    15. American Analog Set - punk as fuck
    16. Ben Gibbard - carolina
    17. Weakerthans - Psalm For The Elks Lodge Last

    Okay, it's not all folk, it's not alll that modern, but compared to what the subject listens to (Bon Jovi, hair metal, 80s pop), it might as well be.

    He also got this, the theme being songs that remind me of metal or synth-pop + a whole bunch of references to random conversations between me and him:

    Band Aids, FUCK YEAH!
    1. My Chemical Romance - You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us in Prison?
    2. Mars Volta - Inertiatic ESP
    3. Elliott Smith - Coast to Coast
    4. Postal Service - Such Great Heights
    5. Against Me! - Baby I'm an Anarchist
    6. team america - America, Fuck yeah!
    7. My Chemical Romance - Cemetery Drive
    8. Coheed and Cambria - Joesephine
    9. Pixies - Hey
    10. Burden Brothers - Beautiful Night
    11. ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Classic Art Showcase
    12. hum - Stars
    13. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Me and Mia
    14. One Line Drawing - Smile
    15. Muse - Time is Running Out
    16. Space Monkeys - Smile America
    17. Ben Gibbard - you remind me of home
    18. Sunny Day Real Estate - Television
    19. Elliott Smith - Miss Misery
    Tuesday, July 5th, 2005
    10:41 am
    Baby pictures!
    Just a few, I promise.
    Elliott James )

    If you want to see any more, check out the Elliott gallery on my website.

    P.S. Thanks for all the congrats everyone!
    Tuesday, May 17th, 2005
    12:22 am
    Just Curious
    What is up with your livejournal name? How did you chose it? What does it mean?
    Friday, April 22nd, 2005
    10:55 am
    I sent this mix cd to [info]uneekascanb today:

    "Whiskey Works Better than Beer"
    1. Elliott Smith - King's Crossing
    2. New End Original - Lukewarm
    3. On - C'Mon Collapse
    4. Andherson - wellspent
    5. Death Cab for Cutie - All Is Full Of Love
    6. Janah - Temple Of My Body
    7. Elliott - Calm Americans
    8. Badly Drawn Boy - The Shining
    9. Frank Black - Places Named After Numbers
    10. Sunny Day Real Estate - The Ocean
    11. Penfold - Microchip
    12. Ben Gibbard - carolina
    13. John Vanderslice - You Were My Fiji
    14. New End Original - Weary Progress
    15. One Line Drawing - Smile
    16. Rainer Maria - Planetary
    17. Cursive - downhill racers
    18. Mineral - & Serenading
    19. Wheat - Don't I Hold You

    The first song is a reference to [info]method_acting, who arranged the cd trade.
    Tuesday, April 19th, 2005
    5:40 pm
    Snarky Pamphlet review
    I used to write for a website (nowadays, it would be called a blog, but no one used the term back then) that consisted of snarky reviews of random items that one came across: post cards, pamphlets, receipts, etc. Anyway, with that in mind, I got a really cool pamphlet today that I felt needed some commenting on:


    Getting Married? -Learn about HIV and AIDS )

    Monday, February 14th, 2005
    12:39 am
    We find out the sex tomorrow. Anyone got predictions? Boy or girl?
    Wednesday, January 12th, 2005
    1:05 am
    Bah. Life sucks. In the last two days I've worked at least 30 hours. I got home from work at 4am last night and was back at 10:30. I'm still here now, its 1 am the next day. Yes. Life sucks. Bonus paychecks, however, kick ass.
    Wednesday, January 5th, 2005
    11:26 pm
    Another name idea
    Someone suggested using a presidential name...
    I think Carter is a good becuase
    -The name is unique, but not freakishly so
    -Its sophisticated-sounding
    -Jimmy Carter was an awesome president
    -Jimmy Carter and I went to the same college
    -Jimmy Carter and I almost have the same birthday
    -Jimmy Carter and I are from the same state.
    -The child was conceived the day after Jimmy Carter's 80th birthday
    -C'mon, Jimmy Carter is a great person. Who wouldn't want to be named after him?

    Okay, thats my new favorite potential name.
    Carter Owen.
    Wednesday, December 29th, 2004
    12:18 am
    Confirmation
    I've confirmed that my Dad is okay. He lives in Thailand, usually in a town down the coast to the east of Bangkok. Thankfully, thats where he was when the Tsunami hit, so he wasn't in any danger.
    Friday, December 24th, 2004
    2:57 pm
    Where is my 24 hours of A Christmas Story? Damn SpikeTV
    Friday, December 10th, 2004
    10:19 pm
    Closet Archeology...
    I was digging around in my closet the other day and I came across a big box of tapes that I made when I was younger. Scattered among the SmashingPumpkins+Nirvana+GodLivesUnderwater mix tapes were some of my early techno stuff, when I operated under the name 'Pariah'. Its awesomely horrible stuff. The two tapes I found are cringe-inducingly bad - when they aren't gnawingly boring. I beleive these were recorded between mid-1995 and early-1997, when my computer died a horrible, grinding, smoking death.

    Pariah - I Am Watching You - This is the first song I ever ever ever recorded. It is teh crap.

    Pariah - Living Hell - The closest I ever came to doing a 'live' song in those days. That sample is waaay over used.

    Pariah - Without - Another crapfest.

    When I recorded those I had no real equipment, just an old Acer with 66Mhz, 8MB Ram, and no more than 25MB free hard drive space. I had to use samples from my brother's video games (which were on the game CD's) to save hard drive space for rendering. I recored the stuff to tape by holding my Dad's handheld tape recorded up to my guitar amp, which I had plugged into the headphone jack of my computer speakers. And I was using a demo version of my tracking program which wouldn't let me save my files. I had to record everything in one session. One windows crash, and my song would be lost. All very ghetto stuff. All very bad. But funny to listen to.
    Monday, November 1st, 2004
    9:08 pm

    Election night drinking game:

    Choose the winner in the following swing states:
    1. Ohio
    2. Michigan
    3. Minnesota
    4. Wisconsin
    5. Florida
    6. Pennsylvania
    7. New Mexico
    8. New Hampshire
    9. Arkansas
    10. Colorado
    11. Tennessee

    For each one you get wrong, take a shot.

    Its that simple. Possibly we'll throw a few Senators on there too. Oklahoma, S. Dakota, and the Carolinas, if we do that.
    Sunday, July 4th, 2004
    6:06 pm
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