if you know what's good for you...

...you'll check this album out. It's pretty amazing. Just a suggestion.

Isn't it exciting when your favorite band comes out with their new cd? The day comes, and you take the trip to Best Buy or wherever you get your cds (in my case, I'll be waiting patiently by the mailbox), you purchase it, and you lock yourself in your room playing the cd, reading the liner notes, the lyrics, the thank yous...It's just such an amazing ritual. I love being able to do this.

Fortunately, I bought two of their cds: the special edition and the regular--I am a dork. They had this special thing where if you buy it at Towerreccords.com you get a limited edition 7" and then a couple weeks later, I found out that if you buy it at Bestbuy.com you get an exclusive track and podcast download. At first I was angry at Island Records for doing this to Thrice fans. I wrote them an email that was just a bit angry. Later, I asked Kuya for advice, "Should I buy the cd at Best Buy too? So I can get that exclusive track?"

"Do it, Elaine. It's Thrice. They're your band."

Kuya convinced me, and so I bought it, and now I will be eating peanut butter sandwiches for a week or so. Thanks a lot, Island Records for taking advantage of poor, starving music-loving college students. I did it for Thrice, though. They're my band, as Kuya said.

Okay, so my archaeology mid-term wasn't that bad, but I am glad that it is over with. Oh, we got a new apartment-mate. I'll just call her our new flatmate. Flat is much more cooler. Anyway, her name is N.. She's pretty cool. I noticed that she has a lot of stuff. It's as if she brought everything she has ever owned into our apartment. I'm cool with that, it just made me realize that I'm a pretty light packer. Or at least, I didn't bring a lot with me here to San Fran. My side of the room is really, really sparse compared to L.'s or my other flatmates. I guess it's because being here only feels temporary, and my home will always be in so cal, so why should I bring up all my crap?

I think that when I have my own apartment up here (I'll only be here for college), my place will be really, really sparse. If you looked at it, you would think a hitman lives there or an assassin. (You know, because they're never home, they're always out doing what they got to do.) But when I move back down, my new place, my real home will be the total opposite. It'll just be an explosion of all my crap at my place because I would have totally moved out of my parents' house with all my stuff, and I have ton of stuff. I save almost everything. It's kind of sad, and it's a habit I'm trying to kick, which is why I'm living like a spartan up here. "Simplify, simplify," Thoreau once wrote. Maybe I'll put up pics of my side of the room later.