Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Mister Sam Atakra's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, July 9th, 2009
10:06 pm	Well now... For those of you on Twitter, I am at both http://twitter.com/samhaozous (which is more event orientated) and http://twitter.com/atakra (which is me complaining a lot like I do here...) You. Must. Choose. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, July 5th, 2009
12:56 am	You would think these people would learn their lesson... Here's the latest post to me in PUBLIC by Greg Gregory Pleshaw... And of course he's obviously way to drunk to send me a coherent message that can't be tracked, but I find his posts simply awesome in their stupidity: ""You're a fucking douchebag!!!"" My response was obviously: Stop writing on my wall when you are drunk Greg Pleshaw, because here is my response.... "Hmm... Judging this is coming from a person who has self-admitted mental problems, consistantly places himself in a psychological corner under his bedsheets in public, and has admitted in public that he is not only a cocaine and gambling addict, has sex with prostitutes on Central Avenue and in Thailand, has a drug dealer in madrid who I won't name and is short, fat, and balding... OK... I can agree with this post you just made and will make it as public as you just did by initially posting it in the first place..." I've already cross-posted the entire situation on every social-networking place possible... (Comment on this)
Saturday, July 4th, 2009
9:59 pm	I thought about going out tonight... ... But everything sounded really boring and I have food here, and the people who said they would call didn't, etc... etc... etc... The fireworks sounded like they might be interesting, but seriously... I have my own explosives anytime I need to blow off steam. (Comment on this)
Friday, July 3rd, 2009
8:16 pm	I love the fact that I can track IP addresses on LJ when people post annonymously... (Comment on this)
1:30 am	Well imagine that... I just deleted my MySpace account. I had become targeted by a few specific people because I tend to point out how their own actions are their fault, but my phone number and links to my job had made the entire issue too annoying to deal with, so deleting the one social network that I never visit any more seemed to be in order... I find it sad because there were some brilliant bands linked to that profile, and many friends who still use it, albiet the terrible interface... But it had to be done. This is almost as weird as deleting my terrible "friendster" account, and the "Tribes" account... I'd been on MySpace for many many years, but letting it go is sort of a relief... Who needs these antiquated profiles anyways? (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 21st, 2009
1:07 am	A few observations on San Francisco... 1. The metal scene is not aging very well, and seems to be diminishing exponentially. 2. Haight Street, and specifically Amoeba are nearing the final days of even approaching anything relating to "indie" or "counter culture". 3. The striving Mission Junkie scene has hidden itself quite well, while the cocaine scene is still the same, unless you count crack cocaine... 4. The excellent food will never go away... I am already craving a falafel from Truly Mediterranean... 5. You can actually catch taxis now! 6. people kept telling me about how bad the MUNI system is, but I didn't notice much of a change... 7. I was called "fat" by two extremely coked out african-american candy ravers with tails sewn onto their backsides... Has the "furries" epidemic fallen so low that a few stitches has now replaced actual costumes? 8. The bathroom graffiti art has maintained it's awesome level of excellence. 9. I don't remember the Uptown as being one of the bars that made strong drinks... What happened? New Management? 10. All my old friends who are still in the area seem to be doing way better than I could have ever imagined... I hope it stays that way. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
11:44 pm	Hello Bay Area! Well I'm here in San Francisco, at least until tomorrow when I ship off to Humboldt County for a week, and then I'll be back. Got to hang out with Ophelia necro and all the KFJC people tonight, Skot from Black Ice/Phantom Limbs, and met Andrew of http://www.theslowpoisoner.com fame, who gave me a CD in fact, which was cool. Echo and I decided to call it an evening instead of going to the Great American Music hall to see Trey Spruance's group, Secret Chiefs 3, because it was just not all that interesting and decided to camp out at Trevor's house in the avenues instead. A slow start to a relaxing vacation I admit... (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 7th, 2009
12:14 am	I miss friends... One of the most alienating aspects of moving from one "scene" to another is the sudden collapse of a social network... This doubles when you move from one region of the earth to another. In my case: I moved, on a few occaisions, from one region to another and in doing so have found myself frequently, and essentially, "friendless". In my experience, it takes roughly three to four years to become "re-situated" after such a move and there are liable to be a bunch of mistaken "new" associates that one will come across before any real friendships become set in stone... On a personal note, this is totally understandable... But when it comes to a psychological level, that sometimes is devestating. I mean, I know I'm a good guy... I'm personable, I know the score, Yet every few years I have to prove this to an entire new set of people... (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, May 30th, 2009
12:33 am	just some musings... I've had tattoo work done by all the *popular* places in the area... But I am always dissatisfied for multiple reasons... I'm thinking about switching "artists" / shops for the next one... I pretty much started at the top and am working my way down, but I'm getting conflicting messages about the work across the board... I do get massive discounts from the shops I've been using, which is a plus... (Comment on this)
Friday, May 29th, 2009
6:23 pm	Friday Update! I took the blogging job... It definately will allow me greater access to the strange world that Native American art, and I think it sounds like a lot of fun. (Comment on this)
Sunday, May 24th, 2009
5:26 pm	Well it finally happened... The one person I know who ALWAYS drives drunk, and has been caught boasting that he'll never get caught... Yep, you guessed it, got caught last night... Let's see... Aside from the court bills, probable lawyer bills, fees to go to DUI/DWI school, the time spent HAVING TO GO TO DWI/DUI SCHOOL, having an ignition interlock device installed fees, the shame of having to deal with said device, and being publicly outed in the local paper as a drunk driver... Let's just say that it isn't worth it. (Comment on this)
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009
11:17 pm	QOTV (Vacation)... Got a call from one of my many friends who are spending this three day weekend camping today, looking for a mutual friend's number... Here's how it went: Me: "Hey, I thought you'd be out of range from the cell providers?" Him: "Yea... I had to drive to a good spot". Me: "So how's the camping vacation?" Him: "It's raining, everyone is miserable, and we're about to kill each other". Me: "Well... have fun with that". (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
9:32 pm	Vacation Goals... 1. Flying in on June 10th for Karin's 40th Birthday... 2. Catching Limp Wrist on the 11th at the Eagle Tavern... 3. Getting a ride up to Humboldt County on the 12th to go hang out with Echo and Linda and all my other old friends for 5 days, going to the beach at least once up there and generally relaxing... 4. Hanging out with Christian Smithers and possibly Sherri on the 14th and then getting a ride back to the Bay Area on the 16th with Catlin and essentialy spending the rest of that time eating great food and couch surfing before the Cretaceous show on the 19th and then flying out on the 20th... 5. I think there's a few birthday parties and some other shows happening and stuff, so... we'll see what happens... (Comment on this)
Saturday, May 16th, 2009
7:43 pm	I just won $600 at the casino... ... And people sometimes ask me if I have a gambling problem... Nope, because I know how to leave the casino after a win, where people with gambling problems may win, but then stay and lose it all... (Comment on this)
Monday, May 11th, 2009
11:03 pm	Update... I'm thinking about downsizing my days that I work from 5 to 3 or 4, with expanded hours accordingly. I want to take a digital "darkroom" class during the summer that will allow me to print more digital photos, and since summer is the slow season for me, this could be a good thing... My work hours will drop to pretty crazy levels, but I think it is needed... I also think I may have a financial backer who will take up the slack for the two months that I do this, so I can still pay the bills. I am cancelling my birthday party I was planning here in Santa Fe for my 40th birthday and will be going on a west coast tour to see all my friends and a shitload of shows instead in the late summer... The new Black Ice EP is awesome and you can buy it directly from the band at http://www.mungaso.com/ as well as the latest Phantom Limbs DVD/CD (both are really good!) (Comment on this)
Sunday, May 10th, 2009
1:31 am	Ouchie... I was asked to go to a few bars after my gallery opening tonight and here's the sequence... 1. Dan's going away party: Fun. Lots of people. Gopt bored within a half hour and left to go play video games. 2. DJ's at Corazone: I can't think of a more terrible DJ, but the place was packed with 20-somethings... My guest from California was so annoyed that we barely touched our drinks before leaving... And this time we actually tried to have fun. 3. "BAR": I am not going to name the venue because my guest fell down the concrete steps and was slightly hurt, but the owner and the bartender were so on top of their game that I feel renewed respect for one, and continued respect for the other. This sort of ended the night, but it was 1:30am, my guest was at fault, and that's pretty much the way it goes. Lots of drama this weekend... Why do these things happen to me? Oh yea... because I know way too many people. (Comment on this)
Saturday, May 9th, 2009
11:08 pm	My gallery opening... Well it was lots of fun. Not too much critical evaluation, lots of questions about the location, the bus yard in South San Francisco that everyone's been to for the Pyrate Punk shows... and a few other grafitti pictures I've taken over the years. Maybe 60 people showed up and we went through about 6 XL pizzas... (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 7th, 2009
8:12 pm	Well this is good news... My Van Dyke print submission got accepted to the juried competition of all the students at the Community College from the past year and a half. I believe the show will be up all summer, but even if it's a month, that's pretty cool. I wonder if I win a prize? (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
12:53 am	QOTD... or maybe it was yesterday... "If you're trying to contact me, just send me a Facebook message... I don't check my phone, my email, LJ, friendster, or myspace anymore." An associate who I will not name... But thanks for sharing! And seriously... He may be right... Well except for the whole phone thing... I can't wait for my cell phone to be totally outdated... That would save me $100 a month. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, May 4th, 2009
9:07 pm	How I almost died twice today... So I took the day off and expected it to be relaxing, but that got handed to me on a platter pretty quickly. I took care of the animals and plants in my care since my sister is off delivering her Yale disertation on the East Coast. Then I attempted to liberate granny from her shackles, but was beaten to it by the family business obligations, so I paid my framer for her work ($1,000... OUCH!), tried to argue out of a AAA bill (unsuccessfully), and then went to check out a new restaurant to review on Yelp (Flying Star at the Railyard, good, but pricey). After that I managed to pick up granny and take her to the casino, where we didn't win... and here's where I almost died twice... Driving back at about 60 MPH my front left tire popped while we were driving back from Camel Rock Casino. We nearly hit the concrete median on the highway, but I managed to guide the car back onto the asphalt, at the time thinking "Well that was weird". About half a mile later, just as we made it into the city limits the damage became apparent because of the noise the rim was making on the roadway. I immediately guided the car over to the first gas station and we proceeded to call AAA. So that was near-death number one for today... The AAA guy shows up, and of course it's the same guy who has been asking to buy my granny's classic camero for years so he can trick it out and turn it into a lowrider... That was amusing. We drop off granny at her house (and of course AAA guy already knows where that is) and he proceeds to take me to Pep Boys, mostly because they are still open at 7:00pm... I need my truck damnit. I go into the office and the managing technician askes me where I live. I tell him. He asks me to spell it out. I point out that it's two blocks away on the same street that his store is on and maybe if he doesn't know how to spell the street where he works, maybe I should be dealing with someone who is more aware of their surroundings... Seriously, What? He takes me out to my truck and proceeds to examine the vehicle... Then one of the Pep Boys car technicians looses control of a Subaru he had been working on, and hits me with the car while management dude stands there. I managed to realize what was going on a split second before contact and jumped backwards about two feet, so I was hit, but effectivly not hurt because I managed to roll a little bit using my right elbow... Nothing was broken, but clearly my "CAR-MA" for the day was really rotten. That's my story. I wish the runaway car had hit the front bumper of my truck instead of me because I wouldn't mind a new front bumper. (1 Comment |Comment on this)