ben wakeman : : Journal

Funny Blogs and Conversation Ticks

January 17, 2006

It's funny how every time I sit down to write an entry, I am pulled in opposing directions. I would like to write about all the little nuances and details that make up my days like Dylan waking me up at 5am because he needed some water, or the fact that our new cats have horrid gas, but somehow making all of these personal things public record seems more vulnerable and revealing to me than blathering on about my inner struggles and my philisophical meanderings. I figure if some creep wants to stalk me, he/she will have less useful material to work with!

I've always admired people who can write with a razor-sharp wit that is so clever and dry that your arm's laying on the floor and you did not even realize that you had been cut. Brandon Bush among his many other talents can do this. Another great blogger is Ben Hales, brother of Matt Hales who plays in the group (which is just him) called Aqualung. I was wiping tears from my eyes when I came across a couple of his entries. There's some truly funny stuff out there if you really start to dig around. If you have not already seen the Australian comedy troup Tripod performing their song "Make You Happy Tonight" you need to check it out.

Tom and I are still working pretty seriously on the next Screen Door CD. He layed down the most amazing piano track for "Shut Me Down" the other night that took the tune to a whole new level. I'm being kind of a nazi about this recording project, because I really want to deliver something that holds together well, not a mishmash collection of odds and ends in a lot of disparate styles which easy to do given the radically different writing styles and tastes we both have.

Hrm... can anyone be "kind of a nazi"? I mean you either are or you're not right? I find myself saying goofy shit like that all the time. For example, you know when you are conversing with someone casually and you have your own little bookend phrases that you sprinkle onto the beginning or ending of almost everything you say? My brother's all time favorite is: "The Point is...". I have a German friend who has a rather long starter: "Anyway, the thing is kinda like...". I think we use these to ramp up to what we are trying to say before we've really thought about it all out.

I think I tend to sprinkle the F-bomb into almost every conversation. Sometimes it's an adjective: "Look at this Fuckin' thing!" other times it's: "What the fuck happened?" and then sometimes it's just "Fuck...man." accompanied by the slow disbelieving shake of the head. Brilliant huh?