Below are the 15 most recent journal entries recorded in Jack Austin's InsaneJournal:

Monday, January 21st, 2019
10:56 am	spamage. I want to run I want to hide I want to tear down the walls That hold me inside I want to reach out And touch the flame Where the streets have no name Where The Streets Have No Name || U2 (Comment on this)
10:55 am	storylines. ( Wa-na-na! Jack the Bandit! ) (Comment on this)
10:44 am	profile. openbooksmod ( Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. ) (Comment on this)
Friday, May 13th, 2011
10:14 pm	WHO: | Jack & Tessa Austin (& Sam!) WHAT: | Two new parents finally get their kidlet to sleep. WHERE: | Their house. WHEN: | 9pm. Parenting was the single biggest hurdle that Jack had ever tried to clear. There were books, there were countless numbers of older and wiser folks with their opinions and advice, but when it all came down to it, he and Tessa simply had to figure some things out for themselves. One thing they were still working on was finding time for each other, even in the midst of the constant care. Sam needed changing, Sam needed fed, Sam was gassy and needed to burp. He cried, of course, and sometimes... in some beautiful, blessed times that even occasionally occurred during normal night time hours, Sam slept. Jack had taken his son into his arms, kissed his wife and told her that he'd take care of putting Sam to bed. She could go and get ready for bed, because he could see she was worn out. It was a familiar look, because he was just as tired himself. After a bit of singing and humming, Sam's eyes got heavy and Jack tucked him in. Keeping his eyes trained on the small form in the crib, he watched for a moment to make sure the kid was actually going to sleep. There was no telling how long it would be before he woke, so Jack padded down the hall to his room to try to get some sleep while he could. (30 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, February 19th, 2010
10:16 am	I think I might have missed some lesser-known New York holiday that I wasn't aware of. I was on the subway and there were a bunch of people dressed in costumes. Chicken suits, a few cowboys, and I swear to god, a little kid dressed up like a robot. He probably should've been in school. I felt completely underdressed for the whole twenty minute ride, but it gave me a good laugh. I've got some pretty excellent pictures on my cell phone, though. My mom is so excited about being a grandmother that she has been calling our house nonstop asking lots of questions. My birthday's coming up in a few months, and I think she wants to buy the baby gifts instead of buying me anything, which I'm actually okay with. I'm past the age where I'm really upset about not getting birthday presents anymore. My parents make a bigger deal about it than I do, anyway. Mom really wants to know what the sex of the baby will be, but Tess and I want to be surprised. Baby names... don't even get me started. We have a little list we've started, but there are more rejected ones than possibilities. Dad and Chris are coming out in a few weeks to do college visits. He wants to tour NYU and Columbia, plus a few others. It'll be nice to see them, but I hope they don't think they're going to squeeze into our tiny apartment and stay with us. We have couch space, but only one of them would be able to fit. (45 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 19th, 2009
3:22 pm	My brother Adam has a birthday coming up. He always complains because it's so close to the holiday season that it gets forgotten, but that's an exaggeration. He didn't get to have many birthday parties actually on his birthday when we were kids because it fell on Thanksgiving day more than once. I'm sure a bunch of those kids would've passed up stuffy family dinners for a middle-school birthday party, but my mom wouldn't have it. Birthday parties on a Thursday! She'd think it was nonsense. He happened to be at home when I talked to my mom this week. She wants us to come down to San Diego for Christmas. Sam and Rosie will be there, too. Actually, Dad said that they've been talking about retiring for a few months now, but nobody's sure what they're going to do with the bowling alley if that happens. I'd rather not think about it, personally. I guess Sam is taking a month off. They left it in the care of Harry Stokes, this guy who works at the feed store. Gotta love small town business arrangements. The manager of the feed store said that he'd let Harry work there for awhile so Sam and Rosie could take a little trip for the holidays. They're going to see my dad's sister in San Francisco for Thanksgiving, then heading down to San Diego through the new year. I can't believe my little brother, Chris, is going to be graduating high school this year. He's already been applying to colleges all across the country. That kid has always been way smarter than me. He might even be a doctor or something like that. He wants to go to USC, Tennesee, or Columbia. Wow. I can't even imagine that. The college part, or the possibility that he might be living in the same city again. Holiday time always makes me think of family. There's a big difference between blood family and the family you make yourself -- and I don't just mean makin' babies, because that's blood family, too. I've been living in New York for a few years now, and I bounced around for years before that to a few different places. San Diego's my hometown, but it's not my home. Orland's not even my home, and it felt like it more than San Diego did for awhile there. I don't get back home very often any more, because it's expensive and really far away, plus I have a job and a wife. I'm looking forward to going home for a little while, even though travel this time of year is hellacious and even though I'll miss New York and the people here. Family has this tendency of springing up wherever you are. If you don't have blood there, then you make your own. It's working out pretty well for me. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
12:15 pm	I have no musical talent whatsoever. I can't sing, I can't keep a beat to save my life. I don't even know how to read music, and I couldn't fake my way through a tune on a kazoo. I was never the guy sitting cross-legged on some quad with an acoustic guitar playing Dave Matthews Band songs to get girls to like me. Ha, that idea's a laugh. I never even went to college. I spent some time on a quad or two in my day, but never as a student. I just visited my friends who were respectable college kids. I was never cut out to be a respectable college kid. But you know what? Does it matter now? Forget the musical talent. I don't have any of my own, but I have a good ear for it. It comes from listening to it nonstop, starting in high school and keeping it cycling through my brain. One internship at a radio station turned into a lifelong passion, and I'm... satisfied. I think the scrawny kid from San Diego in the basement making mixed tapes would be proud of me if he met me today. Or, at least in awe that I get to do interviews with real life musicians. (31 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, February 27th, 2009
2:49 pm	I am sick. Holy shit am I sick. I picked up something from some idiot at work and now I'm sick as a dog. My allergies are raging and I have a cold on top of that. I can't sleep, I can't taste what I eat, and it hurts to swallow. I'm so tired of coughing and sneezing and blowing my nose. Doesn't it sort of defy physics when your nose is blocked AND runs at the same time? That's like having a clog in your faucet. It just doesn't make any sense. At all. I hate taking time off from work. Really, I do. Mostly because I don't trust most of the halfwits at the station to not blow everything to hell, but also because ever since I've become Assistant Manager, I've become a bit of a workaholic. Not really in a bad way -- just in the sort of way that I really care about the station. It's almost like my baby. We're one of the top stations in the city, thanks in large part to projects I've conceived and moved from planning stages clear to follow through. I'm usually more modest than that. Must be the cold meds. But I can't  even go in to work. My head hurts if it's too bright in the room, and my voice is just horrendous. Tessa calls it my 'sexy' voice, but with all the coughing I've been doing, it feels anything but. I've been "sleeping" on the couch to try to keep from waking her up all night -- but the funny thing about sleeping is, you usually need to be able to breath to do it successfully. Man this sucks. Current Mood: sick Current Music: some Panic at the Disco song (Comment on this)
Sunday, February 15th, 2009
12:07 am	( Valentine's Gift for Tessa ) (Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
9:09 am	After nearly ten years working in the radio business, I'm still getting starstruck. Meeting celebrities on the job never gets old. It's really cool to actually have some artists that I've met more than a few times, who I might actually call my friends. Vampire Weekend? I've known them since before they hit it big. Then, of course, there's The Dog & Everything, who has kind of gone through the break-up/make-up phase. Tommy's off doing other things, Jimmy left to do his own project years ago, and now Dan and Augie are playing with some new guys and going by Last Fast Action -- which, I'll admit freely, does not make them kick any less ass. YOU'RE NEXT, Harrison. Seriously, whenever you guys are free, I'll try to squeeze you in for the afternoon. But I'm just gonna say this -- I met BRANDON FLOWERS yesterday, the lead singer of The Killers. I've always gotten the impression from the way he carries himself and the inteviews I've read that the guy's a real douche, but meeting him in person was cool as hell. He showed up with big ol' Billy Joel-looking sunglasses on and these boots that he said belonged to his great grandfather, who'd worn them in some war. We went out back and had a cigarette, and he talked about this idea he had to make a coloring book for adults based off of the songs of Bob Dylan -- which I think is an absolutely insane idea, and not necessarily a good one. I told him that, and he patted me on the back and said something about "the future". He's a weird guy, I'll give you that -- and can't you really tell that by some of the ass-backwards lines in his songs? -- but he's not a douchebag, at least I didn't get that impression. Apparently, I'm taking a couples' cooking class with my wife. But, just to be on the safe side, nobody eat anything I make until after I've tested it? I'm skeptical that I'll be able to do it, but maybe Tess will be good enough at it for the both of us. Current Mood: crazy Current Music: Read My Mind || The Killers (17 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
12:23 pm	I don't get it. I don't know why I'm unpopular with Tess' family. I guess her dad and her brother are all super protective of her, and no man will probably ever be good enough for her... but I'm her husband. I don't think that I'll be able to prove to them any time soon that I'm going to stick around, that I'm here for good. But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying.  Every day, I'm doing the best I can to be the best huband for her. I'm not perfect, but I'm her biggest fan, and I support her in everything she does. Like going back to school? That's huge! It's such an awesome accomplishment, and she's doing so well. I try my hardest not to distract her from what she's doing too often. Plus, now I've got a higher paying job than I did when we met. I'm a manager, and I earn a salary, which usually means that I don't have to work late. I've got time to devote to her, and to our 'kids' -- the dogs. I'm settled down, and I like it. I never thought I'd be that guy, but now... I just don't think I'd do it any differently. Okay, maybe I'd have suggested Tess tell her family about our wedding. They knew I'd proposed, though, so it shouldn't have been too big of a shocker. But I wouldn't change the elopement. It was way too much fun, and the wedding planning just stressed us out. Someday, I hope her dad and brother will get just how much I love her. Current Mood: calm (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
6:42 pm	Tonight, after Tessa went to sleep, I slipped out of bed and stepped out the open window onto the fire escape. I used to do it all the time, but I'll be honest, I haven't done it in months. Maybe life has just been hectic, what with my new responsibilities at work, and with a bunch of less-than-pleasantries. But I'm trying to paint over the ugly spaces in my life and enjoy the things I have, and the people in my life. I have an absolutely beautiful wife who gives me everything I never knew I always needed. She even makes me write sappy things in my journal. I love to watch her sleep. In fact,  that's what I've been doing most nights instead of sitting out on our 'fancy balcony' surrounded by the night. The city is never quiet. Even at three in the morning when most of the lights in the buildings across the street have gone out. I actually like the constant noise. A long time ago, I lived in a place where there was more quiet than I could stand sometimes. Too many thoughts in my head kept talking louder than the crickets and the blasts from a train whistle. I always sort of knew I'd be a city boy in the end. Current Mood: calm Current Music: Am I The Only One? || Barenaked Ladies (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, September 21st, 2008
11:17 am	I want to go see Ghost Town so badly. Ricky Gervais rocks my socks off so hard. I've only seen a few episodes of the British version of The Office, but I do own the entire series of Extras and... damn, he's just so funny. Is there anyone here who's more excited for the new fall season of television to start than for Election day? Okay, so maybe that's not entirely true... but right now, all I want is more Heroes and Dexter. HEROES starts on MONDAY! Current Mood: amused Current Music: Sugar Assault Me Now || Pop Levi (39 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, July 12th, 2008
2:54 pm	Happy birthday, Babe. I don't have anything flashy for you, but I do have a scavenger hunt planned. Is that okay? (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, April 18th, 2008
8:42 am	At what point do twenty-somethings start to feel old? I mean, I never really considered myself that way, despite the fact that most of the folks I interview on my show are younger than me -- and almost all the listeners who call in are close to half my age. I guess even if I'm getting older, I'm still cool enough to be popular with the young folks. God, that makes me sound a bit retarded and sad. My baby brother will be old enough to vote in the upcoming election. I'll be voting in my third. OLD. Current Mood: amused (24 Comments |Comment on this)