my internet birthday wishlist:

* happy bday Ecards
* personal mail on stationary
* mix CD’s
* guitar picks (.88mm)
* cool adult small tshirts

email to misha@speechwritersllc.com
snail mail to Misha
112 Harvard Ave #112
Claremont, CA 91711

I’ve been having a lot of random thoughts lately..

* How does exposure to a carnivorous plant at a young age affect someone’s perception of nature? I suppose this isn’t as random as it first appears, because I recently learned that Dave had a venus fly trap as a pet when he was five. After dinner, Dave’s dad would give him a scrap of meat and send him down to feed the plant. Wouldn’t that be extremely traumatizing? I think it would be. There is already enough going on in the head of a five year old. Now a whole pile of notions about plants and animals and which eats which are being complicated by nightly, ritualistic feedings. “Little Shop of Horrors” probably still terrifies him.

* Life in Western Europe (and in other place too.. that’s the only place outside of the U.S. where I’ve spent decent amounts of time) is different than it is here. Okay, so that’s an obvious statement, but I’ve never thought about it very much. Last summer I spent some time with foreign exchange students, and I remember how surprised I was (this will sound very America centric) that they liked visiting America but would never want to live here. I don’t know exactly why it surprised me. I suppose it is this innate sense that America is a destination of sorts (it was for both my mom and my dad, which is an additionally weird thought. My mom grew up in Belgium, my dad grew up in Malaysia, they met in England, and they raised their kids in America. Neither of them grew up speaking English around the house. What if I met a Japanese girl in Brazil and then raised my kids in Spain? Where would home be?)
Back to the initial thought of differences, it really is strange. I’ve always known that, in general, Western Europeans work less, accumulate less, and go out more. What I never realized before is that an individual effort to lead a more European existence, especially in an American suburb, is futile. Even if you and a close group of friends decide to buck the system (not to work from 8am till 7pm, not to substitute weekday television for weekday get togethers, etc.) and go out three or four nights during the week, barely anyone else will be out with you. And that’s not really that fun. But Western Europeans also (in general) live in old apartments with unpredictably shaped bath tubs and lots of cold weather. And not that many Americans emigrate, so I guess it can’t be an empirically better existence. Though I suppose that not that many people emigrate worldwide, which probably means that people are content to be where they are. Wow, this random thought is filled with all kinds of generalizations. I feel like someone is going to argue with me at a show about this stuff.

* I’m going to make a big deal about my birthday this year. Normally I don’t really mention it to people and let it slip by without too much fanfare, but I’ve decided that this year I’m going to talk about it a lot. I think it’s because I’m turning 23, and there’s nothing that great about turning 23, so the great part needs to be in the turning. So I’m proud to announce that May 20th is my birthday. Let the fawning over begin.

that’s all for now. i’ve been typing for a while.

the tour is dead but i’m still restless..

after a few days of sleeping in at my parents’ house in the bay area (isn’t that scary? when did i start calling it “my parents’ house”?), i’m ready to attempt to summarize the madness of the last week in bullet-point form:

* after an a minor fiasco involving NYC enterprise rent-a-car policies and minivans, we ended up spending our tour time in a Mitisubishi Expedition SUV. In addition to challenging our liberal notions of right and wrong, the Expedition also challenged our wallets (less than 20 miles per gallon x 2.60 per gallon x 1750 miles = a poor SWLLC) and our trunk-packing abilities (there was only one way to successfully fit all of our gear, merchandise, and personal things into the car. it was dubbed “the perfect pack” and involved filling the entire trunk up till the ceiling in addition to the passenger seat behind the driver.
* dc suburbs are the warm nutrient broth that SWLLC depends on to thrive and grow in an otherwise harsh environment. like proto-mitochondrias, jack and nitzan will ultimately flourish because of the love that they were given on their first East Coast show. thanks to the DC kids for kicking so much ass.
* in 24 hours in NYC, i got to see my best girl friend, eat a hot dog and sushi within seven minutes of each other, say farewell to the Tank, make friends with a Coast Guarder, track down Moosehead at 2am, and sleep in Adam Richman’s living room.
* I finished the academic year at Bates College with a 12-1 record on the beer pong table. Congrats to our worthy opponents for preventing a perfect season by soundly defeating Kenly and I at the end of the night.
* Princeton was the sleeper success of the trip. The way we figure it, those kids are supposed to be the future leaders of our country, and they like us a lot, so Speechwriters LLC is pretty much set. In addition to being beautiful and smart people, they drink till 4am and fillibuster till 5am, plus they are gracious with their bedding. Our time at Princeton culminated in a lunchtime ceremony where we were given “highly prestigious” pins that, as far as we understand, are essentially magical keys that will unlock the wrought iron gates of the Ivies like our SAT scores couldn’t. Dave and I are planning to come back and secure our honorary degrees from the Classics department in the near future.
* Ari Hest has a ridiculously good voice. He is also really tall. Paul Dryden is ridiculously good at being the Duke of all things acoustic. He is also bad at reserving hotel rooms. Lucy is ridiculously chattery. She also has a lovely roommate.

Well, that’s the broad strokes of our week on the East Coast. I’m off to play cards with my mom.