tweet. tweet.

So apparently I'm Twittering now. I blame Anna.

a new morning zoo

If this was real, it would be my favorite show on the air. Sorry, O&A.


Thank you, Stephen Colbert.

Let me tell you the truth. The truth is, what is. And what should be is a fantasy, a terrible terrible lie that someone gave to the people long ago.

The world is like a ride at an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it, you think it's real, because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round and it has thrills and chills and it's very brightly colored and it's very loud. And it's fun, for a while.

Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question: 'Is this real? Or is this just a ride?' And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and they say 'Hey! Don't worry, don't be afraid - ever - because... this is just a ride.' And we kill those people.

'Shut him up! We have a lot invested in this ride! Shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry; look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real.'

It's just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that - ever notice that? - and we let the demons run amok. But it doesn't matter, because... it's just a ride, and we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort. No worry. No job. No savings and money. Just a choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your door, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one.

Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, into a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defense each year and, instead, spend it feeding, clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would do many times over - not one human being excluded - and we can explore space together, both inner and outer, forever. In peace.

ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for...

ROBERT KATT

After weeks of being without its fourth and final member, legendary Rockband supergroup, Robert Katt is complete.

From left to right: Matt (Matt), Anaru (Anna), Penny Moore (Kara) and Chester (Bill).

it's like sitting on a canadian tuxedo.

There are certain mysteries in life that I've resigned to never solving.

For example, denim furniture.

Why?

vay cay.

This week cannot possibly go by quickly enough. Saturday we leave for New Hampshire. Wolfeboro shares the hallowed spot in my heart of "favorite place in the world" with my beloved San Diego.

I can't wait to see my family, to share the awesomeness that is our NH house with my new in-laws and to have the lake as a backyard for one whole week.

video killed the radio star.

Matt has launched his internet radio station. Tune in Mondays and Thursdays at 8pm EST for the live broadcasts of the Matty O Show on Radio Irregular!

Sometimes I pop up. Sometimes it's just Matt. Then there are the times where we have a full house like last Thursday's show that included myself, Matt, Bill and Anna. Matt went to college for radio and has been out of the game for something like 8 years. But he's back in and really having a great time with it. The show's a lot of fun to do and now that I'm technologically current, I have to work on not only the station logo but my programming for the CMYKara hour. 

So yeah, tune in. radioirregular.com

chilling out mac and relaxing all cool

There has been serious Apple injection in my life as of late. I suppose it's best to go in chronological order.

My birthday this year fell within two weeks of the renewal date of my phone plan. So as a part of my birthday present (a large part), Matt vowed to find an iPhone for me. After many calls, trips to various AT&T stores in the Rochester area, Matt tracked down a pair at the Apple store. So a few weeks after the glorious day of my birth, I had an iPhone in hand thanks to my awesome husband. It is so much fun to have. I can fit all of my music on it with room to spare, make my own custom ringtones, surf all of the internets, check my email.. all through the same device. This is also the first Apple device I've owned that can play video. I still haven't gotten over how neat that is. Among other things, Anna brought me back a card from ComicCon for a free episode of Dexter and I watched it on my phone during my lunchbreak -- so incredibly cool.

Then, while waiting for an iPod, my computer began it's drawn-out, dramatic death. If my office was a stage, the frankenstein desktop I've been using for the past few years would have been chewing the scenery with the way it went out. First, it stopped booting up in anything other than safe mode. Then it stopped recognizing my mouse and keyboard, so I had to switch them over to USB ports. Then those started being an on and off type of thing. Then the motherboard just... fried. That was it. I was planning on upgrading in the next few months and this forced my hand.

I type this blog entry now from the comfort of my living room, on my shiny, new Macbook Pro. This is amazing. There are no wonky fans screeching when I turn it on, no leaving the room for a drink, snack or visit to the local library when I need to use an Adobe program. I haven't had a new computer since I graduated high school. So going on 9 years. I made it through most of college with the HP desktop I bought with my card money. After that, I bought some parts to reanimate an old computer of Bill's and that got me through our years at Oxford University and up until the present (some ungodly number of power supplies and motherboards later). 

It's weird to have something that works after 'making do' for so long. 

let this remind you why you once feared the dark.

All I can think about right now is seeing Hellboy II: The Golden Army, again.

Am I predisposed to adore this movie?

Yes.

Sidenote: How freakin' cool is the character* design in the picture here? Seriously. It's like Pan's Labyrinth and Neil Gaiman had a baby. A morally and sexually ambiguous baby with eyes in its wings and an unlimited amount of patience.

* So as not to ruin anything for anyone, I won't even name the character pictured.

what i did on my summer vacation.

The good news: I got a job. Starting Monday, I will be joining the team at Dixon Schwabl. I'm excited as my two-day test drive gave me a taste of what it's like to work there and I had a great time.

The bad news: this is my last week of what I've come to call my summer vacation. It's been great, I couldn't have been laid off at a better time of year. I had plenty of time to get things in order for the wedding and I also had some time to just unwind and enjoy my life.

While I still have my week in August with the family, it still feels like that final week before school resumed. So here's the rundown of what I did on my summer vacation.

• Just Married - This one deserves an entry of its own. I promise. One will come.
  

• Shenanigans with Laura - Partners in unemployment, Laura and I spent the first few weeks of vacation enjoying all that was denied to us in the working world. Matinee movies, long lunches and daytime television. In the ultimate shenanigan, we took a roadtrip to Boston when Laura got her new job. I rode shotgun while Laura looked at apartments and had a fun, whirlwind trip in Beantown.

• Puppy Time - One of the best things about being home during the day is spending time with the dogs. I don't know who will be more upset when I rejoin the workforce, me or Clark. Maggie, like always, is relatively indifferent to me being home. Activities like going to Ellison today while everyone else is in neckties and khakis have been some of my favorites. Also over the break, Clark graduated from sleeping in his kennel to earning his bedroom privileges.

• The Grass Is Always Greener - This is mundane, but it was a big deal to me. I repaired the dead spot in the lawn! This is my first house and therefore, my first time dealing with yard work. Leaves covered by snow all winter long had killed a spot in the yard and I nursed it back to life. I've also planted flowers, re-mulched the front garden and planned more green-thumb activities for the summer.

• A Rose By Any Other Name - With looking for work and dealing with a change of name I had to update not only my resume but EVERY PIECE OF PAPER OR PLASTIC with my name on it. Also, my website. It's weird to sign something new after the "Kara" bit, but I'm getting used to it.

• Created Life - NOT WHAT YOU'RE THINKING. I downloaded the Spore creature creator and have been creating critters with Anna.
  

the best night of my life.

It's hard to imagine a story titled as it is above that involves Panic At The Disco in any way, shape or form, but please bear with me. Last night was spectacular.

The Honda Civic Tour rolled into Rochester, boasting the names of such bands as Panic At The Disco, The Hush Sound, Motion City Soundtrack and Phantom Planet. The first three bands I would not cross the street to see normally, but I forked over my thirty dollars for the chance to see one of my all-time favorites, Phantom Planet. I've waited years for them to come to this part of the state and I wasn't going to miss that show for the world.

The only drawback was that PhanPlan was opening and not the headliner. They were actually the first band on stage. Alex went out and did 1.5 songs solo before the rest of the band joined him (there was something about Sam holding everyone up). Then they did the following set:

• All Over Again
• Dropped
• Geronimo
• Big Brat
• California

Yeah, just five songs. I was initially disappointed, but when Alex mentioned he and the guys would be at the merch table to meet fans, I was feeling pretty good. Matt and I got in line and waited. I had absentmindedly left my pre-order copy of the new CD in the car, so I bought a second one to get their signatures. When I got to the table, I gave the insert to Alex first and mentioned that I was excited to see them and that they were the only reason I came to the show at all. He asked if my favorite songs were played and I said that some of them had.

Then the coolest thing in the world happened.

Alex said to go out to the tour buses at the end of the Panic set and he'd take requests on his acoustic for the Phantom Planet fans. I looked at him and said, "Seriously?". Apparently he was. So despite earlier plans to leave after PP, Matt and I hung out through the rest. The Hush Sound was okay, Motion City gets a solid "meh" and Panic At The Disco was really nothing. I don't get the draw, I suppose.

Anyway, when Panic went to their encore, Matt and I headed outside. We wandered around the buses and I noticed two women knocking on bus doors. I asked if they too were looking for Phantom Planet and I got a grumbled answer. Why so friendly? Well, when we did find the Phantom Planet bus, all these girls tried to do was get Alex to say he'd go to their house and use their hot tub. It was painfully pathetic. But I digress, I piped up and asked if he was still going to play and he confirmed he would, when Panic was totally through. So Matt and I wandered back and waited. The show inside the field house ended and the crowds dispersed. About 20-25 people were hanging on the sidewalk out by the buses, near this flight of stairs that leads up to the fieldhouse. About fifteen minutes after the show let out, Alex and Jeff came out (Alex with his guitar and Jeff with a video camera) and Alex gathered us by the stairs. He sat down and started taking requests in a campfire sing-a-long fashion.

Amazing. I still can't believe this whole thing happened. I was sitting by Alex Greenwald, listening to him take requests and organize audience participation in two part harmonies! Some of the older tunes required him to pull out his own lyrics via the web on his iPhone. But that was oddly cool. He likened it to trying to remember what you wore on some random Thursday while you were in high school. Some of the songs are that old. After he played 5-7 more songs, he was kind enough to sign more stuff and pose for pictures. All we had was Matt's cellphone, so the picture is fuzzy -- but I have a photo keepsake of me and Alex. It's cliche, but he's so nice in person and very real.

Phantom Planet is in my top five bands of all time and I got to sit on the steps outside the Gordon Field house with their lead singer and listen to an impromptu acoustic set.

And that's the story of the best night of my life.

And here are some crappy cell phone videos.

seriously?

Hey, Upstaters who previously felt alienated by the city-centric "I Love New York" logo, apparently this one's for you!

I can't say anything nice about this. All that comes out when I look at it is "Ewwwwwwwwww…".