Tegan and Sara provided the soundtrack for my coming-out years. In my room I would unceasingly play the air guitar, the air drums, and the air keyboard, to all their bitchin’ tracks (when mom wasn’t home). To see them live at Stubb's was a full-circle treat.

My friend and I ate a greasy barbecue sandwich during Northern State’s set. But as soon as they left the stage we forced our way toward the front. We wanted to be sandwiched, pressed, forced to jive with total strangers (the cool breeze kept the claustrophobia at bay). We couldn’t avoid the tall people with disruptive hairstyles and one girl barfed dangerously close to our sneakers and sandals, but it didn’t matter. We belted out terrible sing-along attempts … to every song. They combined their newest album with plenty of old favorites.

In between songs the twins told us cute stories about their explosive tour bus and their other visits to Austin. Apparently this was the first U.S. city they visited on their musical debut.

Needless to say, I felt silly and 17 and, judging by the wave of dancing fans, I wasn’t the only one. Add in the booze and the eye candy and a good time was had by all. It was gay-reat.

For the past two months I have been looking forward to the Club Chron Saturday workouts hoping for a strenuous "Poop Yourself" workout. While the workouts I have been able to attend have been targeted to increase strength and improve VO2 max, the workouts have not been of such intensity or pace that I have had difficulty completing them.

Granted, "You get out of it what you put into it." And there is no doubt that I could have upped the intensity on my own to make things more difficult. But all in all, the Club Chron workouts have been designed to accommodate runners of all levels without leaving anyone behind.

All this being said; last Saturday I could not attend the Club Chron workout due to an Officer Selection Office function. This month, the Marine Corps will celebrate it's 232 birthday and this last Saturday, the Officer Selection Office held a celebration to introduce applicants and candidates to this tradition. As part of the celebration, roughly 25 Lieutenants, candidates and applicants participated in "Motivational PT" (physical training).

Soooo, ya. I didn't eat a large breakfast, but I am sure that if I had, it would have ended up on the grass in one form or another. I was about two jumping jacks shy of tossing my cookies, nibblets, and the basket they all came in. Seriously, it wasn't pretty. I knew that I wasn't quite prepared for OCC, but I didn't think I was that far away from being ready.

I was thinking; "I can run for long distances without stopping." "My longest run times average out to be a better mile/hour pace than my best one mile run time in high school, I can get through a single, 2 hour OCC style workout." Let me say "Thank you" to the USMC for telling me "Shut up stupid."

I am still sore. I realize now that I have been neglecting the cross-training concept. I have no problem running, doing push ups, doing pull ups or doing sit-ups, when I can do them at my own pace. You know,take a breather in between sets, get a cool glass of water then return to the workout. It's a completely different story when you are trying to avoid standing still and trying to keep up with a Captain who seems to made of something not of this earth. Combine all of this with couting and yelling at the top of your lungs and you get a guaranteed puke yourself workout and a possible poop yourself workout.

We engaged in a few exercises I haven't done since high school, a few I have never seen and a few old time favorites (jumping jacks, mountain climbers etc.). All of this together worked my body in a way I was not prepared for. It was a great experience though and I am so very thankful that I was able to participate. Without this workout I would have gone on with my normal routine thinking that it was preparing me well, then been destroyed (both in body and spirit) when I finally reported to OCC. Needless to say, my routine has changed a bit this week.

I am still looking forward to the Club Chron meetings for some advice and workouts focused on decreasing run times. But I have had all the poop yourself workout I need until January. Hopefully.

- it hurts to stand up - drew

Allow me to tender a formal – well, no, actually, rather an exceedingly casual – apologia to those professional piemongers at Austin's Pizza. Because I'd assumed – years ago, before any of their Food Poll wins, even – that their product was Teh Suck, and I'd assumed wrong.

Oh, so very wrong.

On the other hand, this assumption wasn't entirely my fault. The blood, metaphorically, is partially on other hands: Those hands that hold the moneybags that fund the operation that bakes the pizzas. Because, look, how does one initially judge a company, a commercial concern, by other than its public face? By other than its logo, basically?

And long before I'd tasted any of their fine product, I'd only been aware of Austin's Pizza via their logo – glimpsed in print ads, on billboards, on their South Lamar signage, and so on.

And, I mean, look at the goddam thing.

There's still no resolution on who'll be replacing retired state Rep. Anna Mowery, representing Fort Worth in district 97 for the rest of the interim. In last night's special election, Dan Barrett, the sole Democrat on the ballot, came in with 31.54%, still well shy of the "50 plus one" he needed to avoid a run-off. This means he'll be facing up against Republican Mark Shelton, the eventual runner-up with 22.89%. He emerged from a field of six GOPers, shoving seeming party favorite (and early-vote winner) Bob Leonard back into the pack with 18.63%.

"We made history tonight," said Barrett on his semi-victory. "We are half of the way there and have a long way to go to," he added, a concession to the fact that, on paper, it's still the Republican's seat to lose, since Mowery held the seat for ten sessions. On his website, Shelton gushed that Mowery "served District 97 with steadfast conservatism for 19 years" (even though, in the Heritage Foundation's last 2007 Texas Conservative Report on voting habits, she scraped a 51% conservative rating, below many Dems.) So it could be interesting to see whether it's really that safe a GOP seat, or it was all about loyalty to the incumbent.

In the realm of Austin publishing, the local, free-slick-profiling-advertisers genre has a new brother. And sister.

L Style G Style, a fun little flip rag (one side Lezzie, one side Gay boy) is on the racks in classier ZIP codes around town: SoCo, the Domain, 2nd Street District, even the burgeoning Burnet Road shopping strip. In a few weeks, the mag's circulation will expand with a second distribution.

LSGS distinguishes itself a wee bit from other local slickies by being an out, queer publication – refreshing considering how subtextual but how certainly queer the aesthetics of commerce/social scene rags like Brilliant, Tribeza, Rare, and their ilk are.

Publishers Alisa Weldon and Lynn Yeldell (must to recuse: these are friends of mine) threw quite the gala this past weekend in front of the emergent Amli on 2nd (which is actually on Third), where apparently every black-clad queer in town was seen – 'cept yrs truly until the end. I got there in the waning few 15 or so minutes, having just sped in from San Marcos. Stephen McMo has a bit more fleshed out info about the throwdown it this week's After a Fashion.

Following up our City Council Notebook post below, it should be noted Item 65 ("Mike Martinez and Lee Leffingwell's motion calling for an election on how the City Attorney is installed") is facing a tough road. It would allow the council – who the City Attorney ostensibly represents – to make the appointment instead of the City Manager; the argument goes that the City Manager's appointment powers makes for a weird dynamic where the City Attorney's loyalties are divided.

The item was originally proposed as part of a comprehensive package of reforms designed to shift power from the City Manager back into the hands of City Council. But while two other measures sailed through (increased financial scrutiny, and an election to change the way the City Auditor's installed), the sponsors pulled the City Attorney item, presumably for some explanation and arm-twisting.

Now it's back, but Leffingwell tells In Fact Daily he doesn't know if he has the votes. IFD also has Brewster McCracken and Sheryl Cole down as opposed, with Cole saying "I think it would create an unhealthy environment for the relationship between the City Council and the City Attorney."

Granted, the council members are entitled to their opinion; hell, for all we know, they may be right. But let's not forget that Item 65 doesn't make these changes – it simply puts it them to the people for a vote, like the City Auditor resolution, which passed unopposed. Our question for Cole and McCracken is: why preclude even the possibility of debate?

San Francisco’s entertainment dens and gilded ballrooms opulated in wake of the 1906 earthquake. Seventy-two hours after a 5.6 ripple undulates the city and surrounding Bay Area - last Friday - Danzig jolts Market Streeet’s Warfield Theatre in the heart of downtown. At least one man sprints for it.

Opened in 1922, the Warfield tops layers and layers of civilized rubble far beneath the underground tunnels and rumored catacombs, and within its phantom of the rock opera walls, up along the red-carpet staircases and through to the balcony, vaudeville still beats for 2,400 exultant pleasure seekers. In the 1940s, my great-grandmother escorted my mother to the movies there. In the 1990s, Guns ‘n’ Roses previewed its Use Your Illusion tour there, Sinead O’Connor put her current tour to shame there, and Ali Farka Toure made blues for the ages and beyond there, all witnessed by that same man hoofing it down Market at the stroke of midnight.

Glenn Danzig had finally produced the glass slipper/sneaker/steel-toed boot mere minutes earlier.

Agenda highlights (?) for the Thurs., Nov. 8 City Council meeting.

Item 10: Authorizing the long-term water supply between Austin and the LCRA for an extra 250,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water, through the year 2100. Ca-ching!

Items 14-17: Reinstating Public Improvement Districts (PID – similar to TIFs, where revenue is captured for improvements or such) for Sixth Street and Downtown. Now if only we could do something about those outrageous decibel levels down there …

Item 23: Appropriating (anticipated?) red light camera fines to cover the system requirements. See kids, the police state pays for itself!

Item 24: More agreement talk between the city, the Urban Renewal Agency, and the Austin Revitalization Authority. Will the sparks finally fly?

Item 65: Mike Martinez and Lee Leffingwell's motion calling for an election on how the City Attorney is installed.

Item 66: Gearing up EMS for meet and confer talks by designating the paramedics' bargainer.

Item 67: Sending the Affordable Housing Incentives Task Force's recommendations on incentives for development to boards and commissions for review and recommendation. Leave a trail of breadcrumbs behind you as you enter the B&C black forest!

Item 82: 2pm presentation by the Design Commission regarding their density bonus report.

Item 121: Public hearing and possible action on Leffingwell's Barton Springs Zone amendments allowing for redevelopment of pre-SOS Ordinance buildings. Relax, it's only the soul of the city …