Did You Know?

  This is probably more than you ever wanted to know about a band that you've probably never heard of.  They're called Living Sacrifice.  Now, you know I'm not religious so why do I like a Christian death metal band?  I'll tell you why.  Their music is intricate and brutal, yet melodic and beautiful.  Their soft drink of choice is Mountain Dew.  If you didn't know, that is most of what Kayla and I drink as well.  They once did a song about the perils of drugs that they dedicated to the memory of Andrew Wood, one of my favorite musicians.  He sang for both Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone and died of a heroin overdose.
  Living Sacrifice come from Little Rock, Arkansas, which means little to me, but it does mean they don't generally come around to play at places I live, which sucks.  An interesting (to me, anyway) side note is that the drummer for Living Sacrifice went on to drum for Evanescence.  When I took my teenaged daughter to see Evanescence, I got to see him drumming.  Of course, their music is like five times slower than most Living Sacrifice songs,  but I wasn't there for myself, I was there for my girl.
  I've been listening to LS since 1992 when their album, Nonexistent came out.  I think they're still together, but I haven't heard anything new from them in years.  Nonexistent is still my favorite album of theirs.  Another good album from them was the Hammering Process.  The only other Christian metal group I like is called Focal Point.  They only put out one album before they disbanded, but it's a worthy one.  To me they sound somewhere between the Deftones and Hatebreed.  Please share with me some of your musical tastes.

Pet Peeves

  One day I was taking a shower and I saw the water going down the drain.  I laughed out loud because I imagined how funny it would be if Australia did a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.  In the shower scene, the blood going down the drain would be going in the opposite direction than in the American version.  Boy I would laugh my head off if I saw that.  If I was in a theatre at the time, I'd probably be both baffling and annoying other viewers.  At least if y'all was there, you'd know what I'm laughing at.
  Speaking of annoying-there are a few things that get my goat every time.  I hate it when people question my grammatical integrity.  "Don't you have a degree in Creative Writing?" they usually ask.  Why yes.  Yes I do.  Here's a question for you.  Does an auto mechanic always do everything by the book?  As a matter of fact, does any expert in any field do things by the book?  No, says I.  You learn the rules and procedures so that you know what you're doing, but that is only how you start.  Over the years you find little tricks, short cuts and personal nuances that are comfortable to you.
  Here's another one that always gets me: religious people who try to censure your speech while you're in their presence.  Let's say, for example, you say something like, "Oh, God".  They come back with something like, "Don't take the Lord's name in vain".  Even complete strangers will try to pull that shit.  Hmm.  And I know you how?  And I became a Christian when?  I've come up with a response that so far has not had a successful refutation: "My freedom of speech doesn't infringe upon your freedom of religion".  Next time you're in that situation, try it.