Thanks to its innovative circle-based approach, Google+ looks likely to cut out all the feed-clogging junk posts and awkward-moment-generating privacy violations. Whatever your reason for joining, if you’re there I’d love to join your circles!

Just hit me up at http://matthewebel.com/googleplus and feel free to share me with your friends!

My name is Dexter Jared Peterson. I am 26 years old and live in New York City. In the last seven years I have lived as 11,577 different people.

A sudden flash of light opened my eyes to the next life. In the first five seconds I determined that I had no clue what was going on. No big surprise there. I stood in a large dark room holding a small blowtorch. Ahead of me was an ornate mahogany box, surrounded by thick ballistic glass and a cage. I looked around for a moment, most of the building was dark but I could see some roped off areas and a few more glass boxes with assorted bits in them.

I looked back at the box in front of me, my thoughts interrupted by a man yelling, “Come on Dex, grab the stupid thing and get the HELL out of there, we can’t keep the security off forever!”

A Thief. Of all the things to be, I had to be a thief. I decided not to question the man and instead reached through the cage only to be blocked by the ballistic glass. “Alright, use your torch on the upper left corner, and the lower right. This should free the pins on the case. Don’t burn that box!” the man ordered through the earpiece.

I did just that, causing the front of the glass box to fall onto the stand it was sitting on with a loud thud.

“Easy, easy! The cameras might be off but the mics on them still work! Just grab that box and get out, we’re already past the deadline,” the man said, slightly frantic. I grabbed the box and slid it into a felt pouch, then started for the door. Just past halfway to the door a heard the automatic locks click into place. If I didn’t have the sense to take this seriously I would have guessed I was on a movie set.

The radio crackled and a woman’s voice came out, “Dex this is Alexandria, we’ve lost the frequency for the security system and everything is reactivating! GET OUT OF THERE NOW!!!”

Alexandria… I half hoped she wasn’t part of this, but then I wasn’t surprised that she was. I didn’t have to be told twice, I booked it to the next exit. I grasped at the handle only to find it locked. As I heard the next door lock I leaned up against the door and sighed. Completely trapped now. At this point I was pretty sure I wasn’t making it out of this life, alive. I guess it isn’t that bad though, thieves don’t really deserve any better do they?

The door behind me suddenly swung open, tossing me onto a flight of stairs. There was a sudden rush of panic as I fell back, but as I landed on nothing but my own ass it subsided a bit. I quickly scrambled to my feet as the radio once again came to life.

“We got one door unlocked but it’s not going to stay that way for long, it’s on the East side of the building, go!” Alex yelled. I heard faint sirens over the radio and somebody else yelling. Seems luck was on my side for once. I started down the stairs three steps at a time, pivoting on the railing at each landing. There was a muffled screeching of tires below me. Something caught my foot and I went head first down the last flight, slamming into the door at the bottom.

The door burst open and I was delivered onto the cool pavement of the sidewalk. I really should watch my step. As I collected the box and took a moment to make sure nothing was broken a grey windowless van came barreling down the street, screeching to a stop a few meters past me. The double doors on the back swung open and Alexandria ushered me toward them.

“Dex hurry up, they’re not far behind!” she yelled to me. Her voice sounded so soft even in the desperate situation. I ran to the back and jumped in as a pair of police cars came flying around the corner.

“Pedal to the metal, we’re getting out of here!” ordered the man who had been talking to me on the radio as Alexandria pulled the doors shut. “Alright Dex, let’s see the prize.

“The man grabbed the bag from me and pulled out the box. In the light of the van I could see small carvings in the wood, which was polished to a mirror like finish. He almost fainted at the sight of it.

“Fantastic! I can’t wait until the client sees this, we’ll be rich!” he sang in excitement. Alexandria took the box and examined it before handing it back to me. I looked it over for a moment then turned to her to ask if she recognized the carvings when everything froze. The image of her face slowly faded into black as I was pulled from the life of the thief.

Video from Eliaphir, shot during our recent Further Confusion concert in San Jose.

Photo by foxgrrl via Flickr

This month I played what I believe is only my third west-coast concert after leaving the Christian Music scene…  The folks at Further Confusion not only invited me to play their awesome convention, they made me one of this year’s Guests of Honor.  How cool is that?  It was a truly rad experience, despite the usual first-year-in-a-new-hotel troubles.  The people out in San Jose welcomed us with open arms, paws, wings, whatever.

If you want to hear the entire concert recording, of course, you’ll need to head to Matthew Ebel dot net and log in.  Members will be able to download the recording for a couple of months, so grab it now before it disappears into the Archive.

You see, if SOPA passes, I want to own Grooveshark.com

It’s not about fairness or liberty or innovation, really. My support for SOPA comes strictly from the fact that it wouldn’t be difficult for me to own Grooveshark once these bills pass.

If you’re not familiar with Grooveshark, here’s their business plan in a nutshell:

1. Allow users to post and distribute MP3′s of any band they like
2. Whatever the users don’t post, Grooveshark will post for them
3. Ignore DMCA takedown requests, court orders, and lawsuits
4. Don’t pay any royalties to labels or indie musicians.

Don’t ask me how a site like this gained any legitimacy, but for some reason tons of people think Grooveshark actually supports the music it’s using to sell ads and subscriptions. There’s a reason they’ve been sued by every major label and why independents like Zoë Keating have had to issue DMCA takedown notices upwards of seven times. Just like the United States Congress, Grooveshark has become a respected batch of pirates that nobody seems to sense as a threat.

How SOPA Can Help

Under the terms of the SOPA bill (yes, I’ve read it, have you?), pretty much any site on the internet becomes a site that facilitates piracy. My dad’s blog about shit he finds on the beach in Washington? Total pirate haven. Forget YouTube, Wikipedia, and of course Grooveshark, any site with a comments section falls under this bill’s definition.

All I’d have to do is issue a notice to sites associated with Grooveshark under the new law. You read that correctly, I don’t even have to inform the site I’m attacking. At that point those sites have 5 days to stop servicing Grooveshark- Paypal, Google, whomever. If Grooveshark doesn’t somehow sense they’re being targeted via some disturbance in the force, they’ll probably keep violating copyrights and ripping off musicians as though nothing had happened.

At that point, I can literally own their domain name through a simple court procedure. I wouldn’t get their bank accounts or assets, but think about all the traffic I could funnel directly to my website through their more popular name. Hell, I could just point Grooveshark.com to my Pandora Radio station since Pandora actually pays royalties to guys like me.

If Grooveshark bothered to notice and tried to defend themselves, it’d be even better. Since every site- even mine -is now a Pirate Bay, they’d be perjuring themselves the second they tried to claim otherwise. That means jail time for their directors and executives, but SOPA adds a bonus: They would immediately be responsible for my legal fees. I could hire the ten best lawyers on the planet and let Grooveshark pick up the tab.

How You Can Help

You too can help me own Grooveshark.com – it will be a simple matter. Besides, if you don’t help me, I’ll just own your domain name instead. It will be far, far easier than you can imagine and you will have no legal recourse to fight these claims.

If you doubt any of this, I suggest you educate yourself on SOPA/PIPA right now… though I wouldn’t recommend it. Congress and their friends at the MPAA/RIAA are counting on you NOT knowing what the hell is going on in order to pass these bills.

So you’re better off joining my quest to own Grooveshark. Just tell your representatives how you feel about SOPA/PIPA and together we can make this happen!

My name is Dexter Jared Peterson. I am 26 years old and I live in New York City. In the last seven years I have lived as 11,556 different people.

That thought… that one thought is all that’s letting me hold onto my sense of self right now. Whoever this person was before I took his place, he was not a lucky man. He found something, some secret that he wasn’t supposed to find. A secret hidden from the public, from the world, maybe even from God Himself; but this poor soul found it. I don’t know what it is, I don’t want to think about it, thinking about the secret makes it so much harder to hold on and write this down.

the secert thinking abou out it I can’t focus, it’s starting to affect me physically; I feel hunger that I can’t satisfy, I thirst even as Idrink anythin I can find. I know he hadn’t slept for days before I took the weel for his life; but I’ve come to feer the darkness behind my own eyelids. I can feel it, I can hear it; it’s always there, ever waking moment, even tick-tock of the clock, it’s there; it’s always there. I don’t want o know what it is, I don’t want to know the secret, the secret haunts me; it sings it’s sweet song of lies in my ears and tempts me to think about it and worn it’s way into my mind.

It would stay with me, I know it would; no matter how many lies I jumped into, no mater how far I run from it, it would stay in my mind until it had done to me as it had done to him.

Tempt-tempt-tempt; it’s rinng in my ears; it wants me to think, it wants me to focus on it’s secret existance. Why haven’t I left, why am I still here? I should hav gone, should have lept out of this night mare by now. It’s keeping me here, it’ll hold onto me until mind is gone. But I’m smarter, I’m so so much smarter; it can’t get into a mind that’s not there; see how smart I am? I’l get rid of the mind, Ill make sur it cant get into me I

My name is Dexter Jared Peterson. I am 26 years old and I live in New York City. In the last seven years I have lived as 11,556 different people.

I… I can’t believe I nearly did that. I don’t know who the hell gave this guy a gun, but he doesn’t have it anymore. Maybe he stole it, maybe he had the same ideas I had and was about to blow his brains out before I took over. It doesn’t matter anymore, I’ve gotten some control over my thoughts again and I’m not going to let it beat me. I’ve had some times that were longer than others, this isn’t any different; I’m not going to let it kill me!

I stepped outside today; I don’t know how long it’s been since this guy last saw the sun, but it had to have been a long time from how pale his skin looked. It’s pretty close to my area of time, only a few years more advanced. There’s some rumors of a political tensions here and there, but I didn’t really pay attention to them; it’s becoming an active effort to not think about It. I can feel the secret of it’s existance, the great and terrible truth of what It is constantly niggling in the back of my mind; I can’t wait to leave this behind.

Part of me knows it’s selfis to think like that, that this guy- whomever he is- might actually be feeling sane for the first time in God knows how long somewhere and I want to take that away from him again. but I don’t care right now; I can’t take this, I’m not going to be a martyr for some guy I’ve never met. It’s almost disturbing to know that I can think like this if I’m pushed to this point.

My name is Dexter Jared Peterson. I am 26 years old and I live in New York City. In the last seven years I have lived as 11,556 different people.

It’s been nearly a week. I haven’t slept, I’ve barely eaten; I can feel this body wearing itself out, it’s not going to last much longer. part of me wonders what will happen to me if I died in this body; if I’ll leap into the next one like normal, or if this is it. I haven’t been back outside; it’s not safe anmore. It’s out there; in the faces of those strangers, in the darkness of the alleyways, in the middle of the crowded streets; they can’t see It, they never could, but I see It. I can’t see anything but It; and I still don’t know what It is.

I’m still holding off the secret, I still refuse to think about it now; not out of willpowr, that ran out a long time ago. This is spite; pure and simpe spite. If it does all end here, if this thing kills me by forcing me to live like this, then I want to have something to hold over It. I want to be abl to laugh at It wih my last breath and say that it couldnt make me think about It; its a stupid thought but I dont care. It makes me feel better.

My name is Dexter Jared Peterson. I am 26 years old and I live in New York City. In the last seven years I have lived as 11,556 different people.

Tired I’m so tired. It is still there. It still wants me to think about It. I wont think about It. tired so tired I wonder what will happen to this thing when it die. This journal has away comes with me. Will it come into death to? what is after death? will it be itneresting to write about? will they find it and just toss it out? I dont want them to throw away my journal. so many stories in it they should read it they should know. they should no not to think aout It.

My name is Dexter Jared Peterson. I am 26 years old and I live in New York City. In the last seven years I have lived as 11,557 different people. I am so tired. so ver

Yup, I finally migrated Matthew Ebel dot net to its own server and bought it an SSL Certificate for Christmas. I really should have done this from day one since I’m hosting a site that involves usernames and passwords, but I honestly didn’t know how long it would last. If you’re not familiar with secure vs. unsecured websites, here’s the practical upshot of what I’ve done:

• Every interaction with Matthew Ebel dot net is now encrypted so your passwords and user info are much safer.
• Matthew Ebel dot net is now its own account on its own server, so if something happens to Matthew Ebel dot com it won’t affect the members-only site.
• Most importantly, Matthew Ebel dot net now accepts Google Checkout as a payment option. Paypal haters, the line forms over here.

Granted, some might say I’ve traded one evil (Paypal) for another (the Goog), but they’re just wrong. I haven’t traded anything, I’ve added an evil. Paypal users won’t have to change anything unless they want to. I do hope to add more payment services in the future, but for now these are the big two. Anyone on the internet knows about Paypal and anyone with an Android phone or tablet has a Google Wallet if they’re buying apps. I’m not ready to start taking credit cards directly yet (or ski down the mountain of legal paperwork that would be involved with that), but that’s the ultimate goal.

Along with the website change comes the usual caveat: If something seems broken, it’s probably my fault. I can’t foresee all the bugs that come from moving to a new server, so if you’re a Matthew Ebel dot net member and you find something’s acting funny, please let me know!