gripes.

decently annoyed by two things.

1. ordering pizza for a large group. lets say you've got about 12 people and you want to order three pizzas for everybody. that's about two pieces per person. sounds good, especially if you're out at a restaurant and the pizzas are pretty expensive. the problem is when you start ordering toppings. in a group of 12, there are bound to be people who want something a little out of the ordinary, canadian bacon/pineapple, anything with mushrooms, etc. if there are even two people who want a specialty pizza, one of the three pizzas that is ordered will be specialty, and if you're really unlucky, maybe even two of the pizzas will be specialty, leaving the last one to be something relatively normal, like some kind of meat, pepperoni, sausage, etc. when the pizzas arrive, everybody starts grabbing their pieces, but the people who wanted the specialty pizzas very often end up grabbing at least one of the regular pieces, leaving so much less for the people who didn't want anything weird to begin with. just unfair. i think pizzas in large groups should be restricted to normal toppings, mainly meats, unless the greater majority of the eaters want specialties.

2. bowling. one of the more intimidating sports for amateurs. i guess maybe just cause most people are awesome at it, and when it is your turn, it's just you up there, all by yourself, and after you've thrown the ball, you've got about 7 seconds of just watching it roll. there is nothing for you to do but stand and watch. and then you turn around and endure the 6-8 foot walk back to your chair while all your competitors watch you. kind of uncomfortable. you just walk, you're not holding anything and you have nothing to do with your hands. it's a weird feeling.

-jon

here's some new stuff.

break is almost over. here are a few noteworthy things that have been going on.

- i restrung my acoustic guitar. it was in serious need of it too, not having been changed since before i left for spain.

speaking of spain, exactly one year and a day ago i got on a plane to leave the country for five months. i thanked God yesterday i wasn't doing it again this year.

back to the list.

- colleen's family got a wii. which means i've gotten rehooked on trying to go pro in every sport on wii sports except for boxing, which shouldn't even be counted as a sport in the game. so stupid. also means i really want to buy them guitar hero so i can play whenever i go back to visit.

- awesome christmas presents include:

• muppet show: season 3
• pea coat
• digital camera
• 12 pack of mt. dew
• money and m&ms
• homemade stuff for my first place with my wife
  
• awesome homemade christmas card
• a bird clock (more on this later)
• a turntable

all of these are so great. i haven't worn my carhartt since i received the pea coat. it looks great and i feel like josh hartnett when i wear it. super nice of my fiance, who bought it for me after we had said we were just gonna split the cost of a digital camera and that would be our christmas present to each other. the digital camera, by the way, is a canon powershot SD 1100. now i have to practice taking pictures in groups and not feeling weird about it. it's really cool though. and did anyone happen to see the new updates to iphoto? they look super awesome. take a gander and how great this looks. almost worth the price of ilife '09. the garageband updates look incredible too. get a load of this. apple thinks of everything.

another great thing i got was the bird clock. great addition to the jam shack. this present was won in the big gift exchange the cooper family does every christmas. i had opened two prior gifts, each a gift card of some kind (i think target and itunes), but each were stolen from me, so i ended up opening another present which was an analog clock, with a different bird for each number. on the hour, the clock chimes the call of the specific bird for that hour. awesome.

i got a turntable. incredible. not just any turntable mind you, this one has a usb hook up which means i can actually record vinyl onto my computer. this opens up a whole new way of listening to music. i bought my first record the other day too, stevie wonder's Hotter Than July. i figure i will start keeping my eyes out for vinyl, anything old and awesome. basically anything pre-80s is a must-buy. i am one step closer to being rob gordon. it felt so cool to put the thing together out of the box; i did my best to be really careful with every little part. it's like i'm handling much more fragile equipment than if i was to put on a cd. records seem to have so much more of a history behind them, a culture associated with them. if i'm not careful with a record than a whole generation of audiophiles will get upset with me. it's really cool.

- my best man joel gave me loads of new music, including adele's 19, rachel yamagata's new album Elephants... Teeth Sinking Into Heart (which wins the award for weirdest album title), kings of leon's newest, and a few more. i've also been trying to do a bit of spring cleaning with my itunes, so i've been getting rid of some of the crap and editing a few things here and there. it's looking better than ever.

- been getting back into sufjan stevens' Illinoise album. what an artist. the whole thing is so richly textured it's incredible. the themes in his music just stop you in your tracks. such a great album. i wish i had more time to listen to all of his stuff.

- colleen and i start premartial counseling on sunday. i'm actually looking forward to it; we're in it with another couple with whom we are friends and it will be a lot of fun i think.

school starts up again on monday. not looking forward to it. i also just realized how horribly organized this post it.

-jon