Sunday, September 28, 2003
106477497590533744:: 11:49 AM

Woah Google just saved my life.

I was up at volunteer park with my mom and sis when I saw what I thought were tasty chestnuts. They were just beginning to fall from a row of majestic trees, and I was like: "ima eat those." So when I got home I got on Google to find out what tasty variety they were.

After a little searching I figured they were probably the japanese chestnut, judging from the shape of the leaves. The japanese chestnut is pretty tasty but I was still a little confused since the shells that I saw in the park were not as spiky as the ones in the pictures. Doing an image search on chestnuts I soon found one with a shell that looked right. When I went to that site I found out that it was Horse Chestnut, which is actually not related to the tasty chestnuts at all, and turns out to be completely poisonous. Whoops. No wonder the squirrels weren't eating it.

Thanks Google. Now that I've switched, I'll never go back to Yahoo.

Anyway, here are some pics from the weekend.

Wednesday, September 17, 2003
106379197020277473:: 2:46 AM

So going into the battle I was worried about two things: first, that I would be the very first person to go perform (before I could get a sense of what the judges wanted) and second, that I would go up against a really strong opponent in round one. Well it turns out that I did go absolutely first, and that I was paired against the guy (Kris Moon) who eventually won the competition. :p

Aside from that, the night went really well. There were plenty of people because of good promotion and also because all 16 people probably had 10 of their friends come out. The final matchup (Sean Horton vs. Moon) was incredible, and there were definitely some great sets and tweaked-out IDM mastery along the way. Check out my photos from the battle here.

Anyone who's interested can also check out the sets that I prepared here.

Monday, September 15, 2003
106369535657963445:: 11:55 PM

I'm pretty nervous/psyched about the laptop battle tommorrow.

Here's the event description as told by the Stranger's Highly Recommended Events section:
TUESDAY SEPT 16
Fourthcity Laptop Battle
(ELECTRONIC MUSIC SHOWDOWN) Who's the (i)Mac(k)? That's what'll be determined tonight as 16 of Seattle's elite electronic musicians vie for moolah and gifts from Ableton audio software makers (spectators can score freebies, too). Competition should be fierce, with ringers like Choncey Langford, Aaron Bolton, Firestorm Viper, Randy Jones, Kris Moon, Terso, Cass Corridor, and XISIX wrenching the craziest sounds from their PowerBooks in three-minute bursts of spontaneous creativity. The last laptop battle generated raucous excitement; tonight's show (co-sponsored by The Stranger) should be even more over-the-top. (Chop Suey, 1325 E Madison St, 324-8000, 9 pm-2 am, $6, 21+. ) DAVE SEGAL

I guess even if I get destroyed I'll have a chance to meet a bunch of electronic music headz from Seattle. Tonight I'm cobbling together some last minute prep, but I'm feeling a little ill from too much caffiene and not enough sleep.

Tuesday, September 09, 2003
10631741727300582:: 11:09 PM

On Saturday I visited Bruce Lee's grave. It is in volunteer park on a hill overlooking lake Washington to the east. For a spot in Seattle, the air was impossibly quiet and the sun warm. Brandon's stone said:

"Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that 's so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more, perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless."

A profound sentiment.

Afterwards I headed to the greenhouse/conservatory and filled my camera up with pictures of plants. Here are the photos of that day.

Thursday, September 04, 2003
106267101703990299:: 3:23 AM

The flight home almost seemed liked a guided tour of the space between San Francisco and Seattle. We flew over Mount Shasta, Crater Lake, Mount St. Helens, Rainier, and numerous other scenic spots. See some of the pictures here.