IWC Thanks Vegan 2004

By Josh Highland in Josh's Rambling

So the day after keller and i got in that brawl, it was the IWC anual vegan

thanksgiving. Its a yearly tradition that all of the IWC and friends get

together the weekend after thanksgiving to celebrate our friendship and

actually enjoy a meal that most of us can eat (yes, most of my friends are

vegan).

Jason and I woke up early are started to fix the fest. We make 30+ lbs of

MOSHED-potatoes, 16 lbs of vegan ham logs, 10 lbs of un-turkey, and 4 boxes of

stuffing. Natalee made a ton of food also.

There was about 45 people that showed up to erics for "IWC Thanks-Vegan

2004".The 30+ lbs of MOSHED-potatoes we gone in about 10 minutes. There were

more deserts then I could count. I ate until I was stuffed. We should of made

more food though.

Afterwards we all watched starwars. What a great evening

Wedding, Work, Food, And A Fight

By Josh Highland in Josh's Rambling

The day after the glasshouse show, I had to drive to vegas with Amy, and her dad to see amy's sister, Alli get married. I havent been to vegas oin a while, since we got back from hellfest earlier this year. I was $100 at video poker in the first 5 minutes I ws there. It paid for the whole trip. The wedding was quick and to the point. My wedding is just around the corner, but I dont think that Elvis will be standing outside of the chappel greeting people. On the way home it snowed the whole way. It was retarded. We made it through the cajon pass just before they closed it for the night. We got lucky there.

It was a short work week due to the holidays. I have been busting my hump here at work to get this project finished before your yearly review comes up. Im hoping for a big raise (I need it, house stuff is expensive!)

Thanksgiving was good. Jason Keller (who now lives with me) and I were cooking wizards. We threw together some good veggie food for us to take as we visited family and friends. Later that night Amy and I hung out with Yenny, Little ryan, and Daniel and watched Elf. What a good movie. Later that night (2am). D-Bo rolled into town! Keller and I hung out with him until 4:30am. It was good to shoot the breeze with him and catch up on things.

The next day I hung out with D-Bo and got some cucas and stuff. Lafter in the day, I drove D-Bo, Scott, and Keller down to the House of Blues Anahiem. Himsa, Arch Enemy, Bleeding Through, Cradel of Filth for free? hell yeah I was into going. We got there early and hung out. I think I have my wedding show details on lockdown. Its going to be amazing, but I cant say anything about it yet until its 100%. We watched Himsa and Arch Enemy. Both were amazing. The crowd didnt react to them well though. It sucked. I hate metal shows. We went onto the floor for bleeding through with Casey and started to have a good time for bleeding through. Metal heads dont know what is up and took offence to our dancing. One big guy hit Casey and threw him in a headlock and started to choke him out. Casey was trying to get him off but it wasnt working well. Now Im not a fan of fighting, anyone who knows me well knows that Im not that down. Hell a friend of mine, Chris from Suffocate faster was stabbed a few weeks ago while watching bleeding through play (it was actually this same tour). Im not going to let someone I know get hurt by some meat head though…. so I jumped into the fight. (i typed all the details here, but deleted them, they really arnt needed). Jason Keller saw me taking on several guys way bigger then me and joined in. They were sorry when it was over. Jason got thrown out, with the other guys who started the fight, Casey and I escaped into the crowd. Jason broke one of the guys noses before he knocked him out. They tries to fight us in the parking lot after we left the show, but we told them to take a hike. We didnt want to fight in the first place, and we didnt have anything to settle with them. We were just trying to defuse a situation. They talked crap to us for a while, but eventually left. What assholes. I hate metal shows. I had to take Keller to get a tetnis shot because one of the rabid metal head bit his hand during the brawl.

Glasshouse show

By Josh Highland in Josh's Rambling, music

On Friday I took off of work and went to see Dylan and get my hair cut. I love getting my hair cut at hawleywoods, even if it does mean a 2 hour drive one way in traffic…

The show at glasshouse was out of control! I was nervous about playing that big of a stage, but once i got out there, that all melted away. The stage was so big I didn’t have to worry about knocking into the other guys as we played. Kids seemed into it, which is a bonus. I ran the merch at the show. We sold everything that we brought with us, including our new hoodies that rockett had made for us earlier that night. It was possibly one of the best times I have had on stage. I got to meet a bunch of new people also. It was just a good night in general. I'm also glad that NIV is back in action.

Better Late Then Never!

By Josh Highland in Josh's Rambling

a lot has happened since I have last posted on my blog… Im sure im missing some things

  • The United States has a new president
  • I have started work on a new lyrics database for notpop
  • Thommy and Krissi are dating and Im stoaked for them
  • I found out some cool things from Yenny
  • I have developed a mean cough that keeps me up most the night
  • I build a computer for hardcore Steve, which quickly caught a virus, so now i have to fix it again.
  • I have been super busy at work. Busy to the point where I dont have time to post on my blog
  • I updated the xdeathstarx website with a new image gallery
  • I made notpop a bit more cross browser compliant (something i have be meaning to do for a year now)
  • I-rediscovered the joys of bit torrents
  • Jason Keller has been staying at my house for the last week
  • I scraped the acoustic popcorn style ceiling down in my downstairs
  • The dishwasher broke, I need to fix it/get a new one
  • I have realized how financially straining having a house is
  • I talked to a tile worker who is going to install tile in my upstairs bathroom.
  • I need to make another run to ikea for an organizer for my computer room
  • I ordered a lettermen jacket online
  • I ordered roman shades for my bedroom
  • I ordered closet doors for the bedrooms in my house
  • Amys sister and Ed decided to move up their wedding date to this coming saturday, so I have to drive to Vegas on saturday
  • Friday night we are playing the glasshouse with NIV. Im nervous. I hate shows with barricades. Reminds me of the Atreyu tour. The crowd seems so far away.
  • I talked to Sasha last night. I miss her and worry about her.
  • I got this crazy tribute to AFI done by this string quartet… wild stuff
  • I started playing starcraft again. Jason keller and I spend way to much time playing it. 4 Hours a night is not healthy, is it?
  • Im trying to book a show for my wedding at showcase. Bleeding through @ glasshouse isnt going to happen 🙁 to bad. Showcase is like home anyways. Anyone know a big drawing, headlining band that wants to play in late jan/early feb?
  • Young Matt is now a notPop board admin. He wants me to create a record pressing database… I think its a damn good idea. I’ll just add that to my list of 100 websites that I need to create.
  • We started to have church at the Redlands Bowl
  • I told Keller he could live with me for a while

Oh, I Remember Halloween!

By Josh Highland in Josh's Rambling, music

Thursday we played a show at showcase. I love playing showcase. Nice stage, good sound, its home for us. Plague: The Red Letters played. I swear, every time I see them they just get better. I’m trying to figure out a way to snag their demo when they aren’t looking so I can make a copy of it. When I came home from the show, Amy had cleaned the house and baked me 2 pumpkin pies. She’s the best.

I spent all Friday night fixing Kevin’s mom’s computer. It was way beat up. I got it working though. Jason and JD went snowboarding and stayed the night at my house. My first official guests!

Saturday I passed on snowboarding to hang out with Amy and go to a pumpkin patch with her some of the boys and Maryn. I forgot how cool oak glen is. I think I’m going to take Amy back there pretty soon. Apples are in season. After that, Dylan’s new band, eaten alive had a show at lyrics in San Bernardino. I hate that club, but it was a good show anyways. I love seeing Dylan on stage.

Sunday, all hallows eve, Halloween if you will. I slept in for once it was good. I really need to get some blinds on my window though. I get cooked once the sun comes up and starts beating on me in bed. Everyone met up at Thommy’s, and to my surprise, d-bo showed up. It was so awesome to see him. He had one day off of tour and he decided to spend it with us. D-bo, Beejay and I took a trip to the Wal-Mart across the street from me to get Halloween gear. We showed up way early to the show. It was cool though because the church was having a carnival with free food, candy and stuff for the kids. A LOT of people showed up for the show. More then I expected. The first band dropped off the bill… sucks for them. Plague of shoel (Brandon’s other band) played. They were pretty good. Big Ryan’s vocals rule. Next was Death of The Saints, The Newest Redlands band featuring Thommy on vox, Daniel on drums (both ex-deathstar). I forgot who played guitars (I want to say it was Daniel elsinor, and Corey. I could be wrong though). I LOVED THEM. The place went nuts for them. The music was a but more obsecure then other Redlands bands, but it was excellent. Plague: The Red Letters were next. Steve-o wins the costume contest i believe, he was a Mexican gangster… like a vato. Naomi was a chola. They played really well. Kids murdered each other. I forgot how much fun it is to mosh around when everyone is in costumes.

Last up was xDEATHSTARx. We all wore black clothes, white face paint, black eyes and lips…. dead presidents style. people kept telling me that I looked like the joker, or old davey havok. I can live with that I guess. The stage was super tiny. I don’t know how we all fit, but we did it. It was an excellent time. Redlands needed a new venue. Im glad that we were able to be one if the first bands to play in it. I also love the fact that it is also my church. Going to shows at Oasis helped me to break down my misconceptions about Jesus, God and Christians in general. Hopefully this outreach can do the same for other kids out there.

After the show we all went to Eden’s house. I hung out with her stinky dog all night. I went home when I started to fall asleep while waiting for Thommy and Krissi to come back with food. I wonder who ate my burrito? I’m going to guess that Beejay did.

Halloween this year ruled.