It is 6:16 PM on 6/16/2026. I am watching some Fred Beyer while writing, I planned on reading and getting caught up with work, however it was one of those days where no matter how much work I did, I stayed in the same place. I haven't read today nor do I plan to, which is a little saddening. My hours are going to go down to 22 hours, which worries me a little when I start my residency - however, I will still have a job which is good. I did work on setting up a show on July 3rd, that will hopefully go well and I've added another band. Other than that, I plan on working on some more Princeton connections (more info upcoming) alongside other places close by.

Last Wednesday, I listened to Meno by Socrates. I listened to some more of Adam Rosenfeld's PHI 251 course (linked in previous entry). Meno and Socrates remind me of Me and Dave (me being Meno and Dave being Socrates). Dave is very inquisitive and is a genuine learner; He likes to ask questions and get actual answers, he likes to read and actually understand what he reads, he likes to speak and make sure his speech or answers make sense. I on the other hand am guilty of speaking just to speak or get by in a conversation, I also have a terrible time with reading comprehension. I've accepted the latter fact and now if I don't understand something but enjoy the content, I'll resign myself to letting whatever information seep into my brain and let the rest be mindless noise. I do worry that I waste my time by listening/reading certain stuff that I end up not comprehending in the slightest, it should be said that listening to educational material (philosophy, psychological, math content) even if one does not understand is probably in some way beneficial, especially when in lieu of not watching the content at all. This is not to say that you should first read something like Wittengstein's Tractatus without understanding the basics of First Order Logic but I am saying is if you're a person who is interested in someone like Wittengstein, I see no problem in listening to lectures by someone like Michael Sugrue about Wittengstein, even if one does not fully understand the lecture/Wittengstein's work. Anyways, Meno is structured as a collector of information (Rosenfeld mentions this almost verbatim in his lecture on Meno), and I feel that I am the same way. A lot of my songs (particularly the songs from Bush Ghosts) tend to include a lot of references, now I've gotten better at incorporating these references in a more Joycian or Hegelian(?) style of songwriting that seeks to tell a story that can be told without the reliance of references. I will say the insistence of reference is something I've always found interesting and impactful but some of that insistence does stem from a slight mistrust of the importance of my ideas, I'm 23 so I know that while some of my ideas are important and hold weight (and I've certainly gotten better at identifying what ideas are important and what ideas are most likely cringe) that my youth implies that I have a lot to learn. I am slowly becoming more confident in my academic skills and fiction/essay writing skills so hopefully this self consciousness will sort itself out in due time. Anyways, Dave is loves to ask Socratic questions about life that I really appreciate because although I cannot fully answer his questions, I do think that those conversations are interesting and important.

On Thursday, I watched Noroi: The Curse - which is a very good movie and I liked it quite a bit, however, I would recommend watching a plot synopsis (specifically the video by SpookyRice, who I like quite a bit) before watching the movie to fully understand and allowing you to fully pay attention to the plot. I also watched Laurence Olivier's Hamlet, which is great. I love Hamlet with all my heart and I plan on listening to The House of Tabula's Hamlet Analysis fairly soon. Laurence Olivier's Hamlet is mentioned by Michael Haneke, where Haneke details a funny anecdote about being a kid and walking out of the theater during a screening of Hamlet due to the intro music being scary. This anecdote is mentioned in an article by Haneke, I've linked an audiobook of this article here. Not too much happened besides watching movies and working except for me playing Minecraft. I'm getting more and more excited about the version of Minecraft I've updated to (Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6), which has The End and the Ender Dragon and Enchantment Tables and all that good stuff; So I am hoping to do some more great Minecraft streams on my Youtube channel this summer.

On Friday, I worked until I didn't and then I went to K's house. I rubbed her back whilst she got ready, doing her makeup and brushing her hair. K has some of the smoothest skin I've ever felt, which is due to her using lotion, which is awesome (shout out to all my lotion users, specifically Gold Bond because it is the best). She and I went to a show at Silverdale Studios and we had a great time. The first band was Opposite Effect, which is a band that consists of High School Students who make cool semi-indie music. At one point, Opposite Effect's bass player's bass's strap's screw became completely disconnected from the bass itself, rendering the guitar strap itself useless and causing the bass player to hold onto the bass with his elbow for dear life. I did go on the stage to try and help before I realized that there was no way of connecting the strap back to the bass, in which I just hoped for the best. The bassist switched basses with a bass that had a fully intact strap screw-hole, and the rest of Opposite Effect's set went well. The reason I've detailed this anecdote in so much detail is not to embarrass the bass player for Opposite Effect, which I am sure it did embarrass him at the time - but it is to highlight, that this phenomenon has happened to both me and A Blue Shell Paradox's lead singer before... on film! My first show with Blue Shell resulted in me dropping my ex's bass, which was recorded and can be seen here. I was very traumatized by this incident and I immediately bought strap-locks for my bass, however, a couple months later the same thing happened to Kyle at a show which was also recorded... I have recorded the incident here.

After Opposite Effect's Dr. Scientist played, they are a very good band who deserve a lot more shows. They sound like Carseat Headrest, which I really enjoy. The next show I have a say in who plays, I want to try and get them on the show. K had a bad headache shortly after their set began and me and her sat in my car for a while while she (K) recovered.

Once me and her got out, Dr. Scientist's set was unfortunately over, which was a bummer but I was glad that K was feeling better. Me and K were invited to my buddy DJ's house, which I was excited about. Me and K went to her house briefly so she could get changed, and I was very worn out. Me and K went to DJ's and me and her were a little awkward and very sleepy, we had a very great time and I think K started to warm up to everyone right before leaving, which I was very excited about. I hope K becomes super good friends with everyone within my circle, me and K have known each other for 2 years at this point and I know she's had a lot of toxic friends so I hope she is able to develop some more healthier friendships.

Upon getting home, me and K talked about being in a movie (I forgot to mention that me and K were extras in a movie, which she was very very nervous about - but overall we had a very good time) and then we went to bed. I love falling asleep beside K, her room gets cold halfway through the night which means I can cuddle up to her, but also if I get too warm I can roll over and she doesn't mind that I am not curled up to her. I love her and I really wouldn't want to fall asleep next to anyone else.

On Saturday, I woke up and spent some more time with K and then I headed home. I read a little and practiced guitar and took a nap. At about 3:30 PM, I went to my buddy Erik's house and me and him finished up recording the scratch tracks for the new album, Motivational Interviewing. I am very excited for this new album. I took Erik to Wasabi Fusion, which is an amazing restaurant, to celebrate. I ordered some General Tso's chicken which is awesome and me and Erik talked about a lot of different things. I mentioned to Erik that I plan to read the bible in which he recommended Paul's letters. Erik seemed rather grateful about me getting him Wasabi, which I found to be sweet and I loved talking to him. Erik is the sweetest guy I know, he is also one of the most honest - this honesty is based on necessity and I know when Erik says something, he means it. Erik has a nice meaningful smile as well. I wish I would've got some Spicy Tuna Rolls from Wasabi at the time of writing this. After dropping Erik off, I went home and I played some Minecraft while my mom and my step dad watched a Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart Movie.

On Sunday, I went to church and I enjoyed my time with my grandma and my church. I said a prayer request for my grandpa, I told the pastor about my grandpa and I honestly got a little choked up. After church, I got a shower and then I went to K's. Me and her went to Omelette Shoppe, which is a restaurant that is very good but is getting ready to close. Omelette Shoppe is being bought out by a chain of coffee shops called "Seven Brew," which I have never bought from - but I doubt that I would enjoy any of their (Seven Brew's) products. From there, me and K went to the movie theater and I bought her a slushie.

Me and K watched Obsession (for me it was the second time), and i really liked the movie a lot more than the first time I watched it; It reminded me of like Bo Burnham in the sense that it was a really competent voice coming from the internet like Bo Burnham did with YouTube but with horror and from like that sort of weird YouTube/Vine/TikTok/Instagram comedy sketch culture that i was never too interested in. I thought the movie had good writing and I really liked the main actress. I really liked the scene where she did the creepy Hansel and Gretel poem where she does the voices. It was cool and reminded me of Robin Williams. I will say, I really enjoyed some of the commentary on overly complicated relationship dynamics, blowing things out of proportion, and manipulation. I thought it was interesting that Sarah and Ian saw either Nikki or Bear as being taken advantage of depending on who the friend liked more. I thought the ending was a little crazier than I remembered; but any movie that can make a room full of rednecks/teenagers not move a muscle for like 3 minutes straight has to be doing something right. I really enjoyed thinking about the metaphysics of Nikki’s predicament. Like i can’t tell if the movie is implying that she is conscience during the whole fake Nikki taking over thing, I think the movie does imply that (which provides like an actual subtle horror about like free will that makes me want to rip my skin off*), but there is also things that make me think she was trapped in some sort of other purgatory thing based off of the phone call Bear makes to the One Wish Willow guy and also Nikki saying “I’ve never been with you, Bear.” I think the latter statement could mean she hasn’t been conscious for the previous week or so except for various moments but I’m not really sure. I also really liked the death poem, I thought that was good. Overall 8/10.

**It should be noted here that there has been a quite significant feminist reading of the film that I think is quite powerful; however, I am not smart enough to really dwell into that too much. I think it’s pretty obvious that Bear is the antagonist of the movie (albeit there’s some grey area to make the movie interesting), and that the movie states pretty clearly its’ themes about male disregard for female autonomy and evil within otherwise spineless men and other issues that I’m not really qualified to address. I do think that even though myself alongside a lot of other filmgoers cannot fully articulate these themes, I think that the movie addressed them (the themes) properly in a way that will cause some pretty important ideas and conversations. My last thought about this is that one reading of the movie is that Bear never cared about Nikki and was a bad guy from the start and was only able to show his true colors when given the means to be evil (a la Walter White).

Upon leaving the theater, I threw K's slushie (which she intended on keeping and finishing on the way home) away on accident because I was so shell-shocked by the movie. Me and her had a good laugh about this and I apologized and bought her another slushie. From here me and K went home and me and her relaxed for a little bit and then I went to bed.

On Monday, me and K also went to an open mic. Next week I am going to be watching my dog, so I will be unable to see K at all for the next week, so I have been spending quite a bit of time with her. The open mic was in Princeton and me and her had a great time. I met a guy named Jack, who within a conversation with, I exhausted my entire knowledge of classic music with. From here several great musicians played during the night. One of these musicians was a little boy who played Enter Sandman on a red Squier Mini-Strat, which was actually my first electric guitar. My other favorite performer(s) from Monday were Jack and another older man who was a dead-ringer for Erik Erikson. I played last and I played Song For Ur Dog and a new song. The audience enjoyed both songs. I hope I made some good connections and within the next month or so, I will be attending a few more open mics at this place alongside reaching out to different venues to try and set up shows. I dropped K off and I listened to "My Dog Went Missing For Three Days," which I've decided is my favorite creepypasta and I got home at about 11:30 PM. From here I showered and then I went to bed. I fell asleep to one of Sacrow's videos.

It is now 9:26 PM on the 16th. I plan on posting this tomorrow but labeling it as the 16th as it looks cooler. I am going to eat a salad. Goodbye.