I am trying (again, with Amanda’s help) to curb my spending. The CD purchases have been out of control lately, and I need to save some money (especially with Christmas right around the corner). I have a problem, though. Cartel. It’s good. I don’t know if it’s good because it is, or because I can’t have it. It’s driving me nuts. I have a second problem, too. My American Heart. Again, it’s good. And I can’t have it. I blame my friend Jess for this. She showed them to me; it’s her fault.

So, to tide me over, I’ve been listening to old music. I went through my iPod and found stuff I haven’t listened to for the longest time. Our Lady Peace; I have nearly every one of their CDs. I think I’m missing the latest live CD, but that’s about it. So, I queued all of their albums; I love OLP. Our Lady Peace was the first band that I really didn’t like until I saw them live. I don’t know what it was about the live performance (I saw them just after their second album, Clumsy, came out) but I re-listened to Naveed when I got home and it blew me away. I’d have to pick between Naveed and Spiritual Machines if I had to choose a favorite album.

I also saw some Alien Ant Farm in my library, so I queued up ANThology. Again: superb. I didn’t really listen to it — I’ve been missing out. My two favorite songs on the album are ‘Summer’ and ‘Happy Death Day’. I think I ignored these guys because of all the hype they got for the ‘Smooth Criminal’ cover. I figured they were packaged pop garbage … which they very well may be, but I still like them.

My buddy Jon (formerly of the Polyphonics) told me once about this band called Cauterize. I also set them up on my playlist this week; it’s been way too long since I’ve listened to them. It’s rock/emo/pop-punk, and oh how I love the rock/emo/pop-punk. The vocals remind me of Jon Bon Jovi, too, I think. I may be going crazy, too. That’s altogether possible.

This one time last year, I won a contest on Punknews.org or some other music website, and I got myself a signed poster, sticker, and CD from a christian emo band called Number One Gun. Do you like Taking Back Sunday? When I first popped this CD into my trucks CD player, I thought I was listening to some TBS. It’s got the same feel (vocally and musically) in a few of their songs. Their CD, Celebrate Mistakes, quickly became one of my favorites. With all of the new music I had been buying lately, it fell back, forgotten; but not anymore.

It’s 12:16am, I’m exhausted, but not tired. I hate that feeling. I was up at 7am, got to work around 8:30, and worked about 12 hours. I did 12 yesterday too; and probably 12 tomorrow. Somebody save me.