A Nice Weekend

Went to the Irish Festival this weekend, had a blast. Got there late so I was only able to knock back Guinness from like 3 - 11, thats three hours of beer that I... probably didn't need.

I also had a nice little date. It's a weird story of how I met her, but the important thing is that she's really nice, smart, well read and a bit odd. Oh and cute too! I said little date because I did say we were just going as friends, but I'm pretty sure she realizes thats BS. We went up to Watkins Glen and hiked the gorge, over the summer a friend told me about going with his kids and it made me want to go up there. I hadn't been since I was a kid. Anyway the weather was perfect and we just walked and talked a bit. It was funny, there were fairly long silences, but I don't think they were awkward silences, just times when neither of us felt like talking. At least I hope she didn't think they were of the awkward variety. So I'm trying not to make a big deal out of this, but she is quite likable. I'm sure this won't be the last time I mention her, so I might have to give her a code name, I will call her Mona.

I doubt she will read this (at this point kinda hope she doesn't), but if she does, she'll get it.

myHave a good one everybody!

Beer Blogging! Horseheads Brewing Company

I don't usually blog about beer. While it is a subject that I really enjoy studying it's not one I'm particularly adept at sharing with others. I like good beer but I can't tell you why. Other people go on about the hops and the intricate flavors, I say, "mmm thats good" or "ew, not so good."

So I was dragged to a local brewery/microbrewery that for some strange reason I had never been to before. I got out of work a little early on friday, went and saw a friend and as we sat with nothing to do he suddenly jumped up and said "lets go to the Horseheads Brewing Company!"
"Never been, is it good?"
"Really?oh you're going to love it."

Three of us piled into his firebird and we took of in search of lager. They started us off with some samples of everything they had, after asking for ID, which meant I got to show them my new clergy ID. There was one I didn't really like, I'm just not a pale ale fan, there too... hoppy? This is why I don't beer blog often. The only other one that I really didn't like was a peach beer. First off I want my beer to taste like beer, second I just hate peach. But I tried it, and it was gross, but if you like that sort of thing then give it a shot. They give you samples, just make sure you save one of the good ones for after so you leave with a mouth that tastes delicious.

Then there was the wheat beer, quite good. I knew I was going to be at an outdoor party the next day and it was supposed to be 90+ degrees so this seemed like a great summer beer. It might have been a little too good as I might have drank two growlers in pretty short order. Of course that can't all be blamed on the wheat. There was also a brown ale, simply known as "brown ale" and I really liked this one. I polished off a growler of this on friday night then headed back up on saturday to get it refilled before that party. And seeing as I purchased two growlers, including one cool one with the ceramic flip top and the sweet latch, the other is just a spin on top, I'll probably be back fairly regularly for refills. They also have Sullivan Stout but they didn't have it on tap so I didn't get to try it, but I did pick up a bottle. I hope its good I like me a good stout.

As I said and have shown, I'm quite terrible at describing beers but I think I've given the beer the ultimate capitalist praise, I bought more. What I realize that I left out of this praise is that the people who work there seem really nice, affable and just seem to really enjoy making beer. I had already had a couple when I showed up and we had fun chatting. I look forward to more nights of popping open that big old flip top, and to saying hi to the kind folks who make that joyous beverage.

UPDATE! Ok want proof that these people are serious beer fans? Beer Shampoo anyone? I'm just not sure if I could bring myself to waste a perfectly good beer on hair.

Vactation

Ok I was on vacation, thats why I haven't been posting. Well thats why I didn't post till Monday, there will be a rant about why I didn't post yesterday. The vacation was fun, went to Ocean City MD and played golf with my dad a couple of uncles and some other fellas. It was a good time, hit some balls and drank some beers. I could say more but I've got ranting to do. Plus that was a little while ago now and I've had a bit of stress since then. Just know that I had a blast.

1000th Post!!!

Holy Crap this is my one thousandth post on this here website! I'd like to thank all those who stop by and read this crap, an even bigger thanks to those who occasionally leave comments and the biggest thanks of all to the person who makes this all possible, ME! Blah Blah ego whatever it's my damn accomplishment. But you are more than welcome to come bask in my glory or to shower me with praise, or money showering me with money is also appreciated. (given that I don't even have a paypal button you can judge my expectations of that happening)

So thanks again to those who read this, I'm still enjoying it, hope you are too!
Peace!

Cartoons and Life

I've been slacking lately on the bloggin' sorry about that. I guess my attention has been diverted lately. I've been working out a lot lately. I never thought I would actually enjoy exercise but I think I've finally reached that point. I'm looking better and I feel so much better. I'm within a few days of being able to say I've lost 40 fuckin' pounds! As of today I've lost 39. My short term goal is to get under 230 before I go on vacation on the 21st. 4 lbs in a week and a half will take some work but its doable. I also finally have some people to work out with. It's slightly awkward as one is a guy who wants to do free weights and such, the other is a girl who is looking to lose a little weight and get toned which is really more in line with my goals. I wouldn't mind having more muscle but not being fat is the real priority.

I also promised a Cartoon so in honor of my amazing abilities with the ladies here's a rather fitting one from XKCD.

Another Awesome Weekend

So much fun..... The boys in the band broke up a little while ago but they got together for one last show, which was a little funny because three of the four have started a new band together. So being the classy fella he is guy numba 4 wrote "Well this is fuckin' awkward" on a white shirt that he displayed once he got on stage. Their were five bands and they tore the place up for the last punk show at the Amp, which was a shitty local bar but we played there all the time and had a great time, usually. Friday night though was one of the best nights ever there. Music was going till about 1:30. I did almost get into a bar fight, that wasn't cool. But it was flat out amazing how quickly my friend was by my side. Another friend was on the stage (guy 4) but if punches were thrown he'd have had my back despite the fact that it was his cousin he would have been fighting. But that fight was avoided. Then there was a lovely young lady who was being rather flirtatious, I met her a while ago but don't know her well, she seems chill. So Guy 4, Ma bro who had my back and the lady got into my truck and we headed to guy 4's house for what I thought would be an after party but it was just the five of us hanging out which was fine (the four plus 4's GF), we bullshitted and drank some more southern comfort. Everyone else fell asleep so I gave the lady a ride home, and we decided to go for a walk around a pond, and some more SoCo. We went back to her place and you can assume anything you want because it'll probably be wrong and it's none of your business. I realized that I need to do something quick at work so rather than risk falling asleep and not waking up in time I left at like 830 without having slept a wink. Went to work, drove to the airport to drop of the shipping, dropped of a coat a friend left in my truck, and finally got home around 10. Now for some reason this seemed like an opportune time to go to the gym. So while still wearing the same Dead Kennedy's shirt that I had been sweating in the mosh pit with I headed to the gym. Admittedly I only stayed like half an hour, but I sweated out some of the SoCo. Around 11 I finally go to sleep. Then headed to another friends at about 3, then went to a small party that night where I ran into an old friend and found out she lives like right across the street from me. Unfortunately we ordered a couple of sheet pizzas and I ate way more than I should have, completely defeating the point of going to the gym earlier that day. Oh well. Then went to the bar for a quick one and saw my cousin who was a bit wasted, er maybe more that a bit. Sunday was nice out and I went to a boxing class at the gym which was fun, although I missed one punch and fucked up my wrist a bit, but its the only class at the gym I didn't feel stupid doing. Also the only one where men were the majority. Also the only one you need to pay extra for, grrrr... but they do bring in a golden gloves boxer to teach the class so there is a reason. The teacher even told me I move around pretty good for a bigger guy. I'm surprisingly light on my feet for a fat bastard. I blame this on my sister who was a dancer growing up and used to teach me stuff so she could practice, one that always stuck with me is walking on the toes to build strong calves. I then relaxed like a mo-fo for the rest of sunday, I think I'd earned it, even though I really wanted to go outside just because it was nice out, I need a porch.

So that was my weekend, how was your's?

The Weekend sans Spamalot

Best Weekend Ever! Ok no, but a pretty damn good one. First I met up with some folks from work at a party/ fund raiser for the local theater. It was a Caribbean themed party which meant throwing on shorts and sandals while theres snow on the ground. A guy I work with played in the band and a good time was had. I then picked up a friend who I've only hung out with a few times but seems really chill, after changing out of the shorts. We head over to a friend of mines house for a small shindig. Good times are had and two interesting things happened, first the friend seemed to be flirting with me, sweet, then she mentions needing to wake up at like 5am, not so sweet, then she tells me its because she's going on a bus trip to NYC to see Spamalot, now I'm fucking jealous, then she realizes there might still be an empty seat, hella killer sweet, a few phone calls later and I'm in. Then the friend who's house we're at gets his pants pulled down by another friend who didn't mean to take the boxers too, so my lady friend and I get an upclose view of some wang, sadly this is far from a first for me, I have odd friends. Luckily shes chill and just laughs it off. We head back to my place to try to sleep for a bit which doesn't work out at all. Now before anyone thinks anything, not a damn thing happened, which is fine, no actually its a good thing I like and respect her so really wouldn't have wanted anything to happen that quickly. We laid there trying to sleep, every now and then asking the other if they were asleep, and the answer was invariably "no" at which point we'd laugh and talk for a bit, then try to sleep again, then repeat. About 5am we get up, seeing as we hadn't sleep it probably would have been smart to wake up a bit earlier so we could shower but it was too late by then.

This was going to be a post about spamalot but I've rambled so long that I think I'll do that separate and just talk about my weekend minus the spam.

So we pile onto a bus full of college kids, and me. I had a feeling at this point that maybe things were a little more complex with the lady than I had hoped as she didn't sit with me, and the whole time she was still very friendly but just a bit more distant in front of her friends than she had been in front of mine. We wandered around NYC for a while, went to the dock for lunch which ironically is one of the few places in NYC I've been to before, oh well. We wandered into St. Somebody's cathedral which was funny because another person in our group said she was going to catch fire if she went in, she didn't neither did I, I almost said something about being a bigger heathen but I decided against it. One thing I do respect about the catholic church, amazing architecture, I love that stuff. When you talk about the great architecture of Europe theres essentially two types of buildings that are brought up, Castles/ Chateau's, and Churches/ Cathedrals which for some reason all start with "c." As we are walking in I get a phone call from my sister, and I'm trying to end the call quickly because as much as I like to rip on religion I'm still going to show respect while I'm a guest on their turf. I even remembered to hank my hat off just after I got off the phone and scurried in, it was funny because I could see one of the... bouncers? nod to me as soon as I took it off as if he was going to say something but I beat him to it. Then I look down the isle and like a hundred yards away theres a freaking wedding going on, what? I guess its cool to have a wedding as such a huge and historic site but its totally not cool to have tourists at your wedding, oh well to each their own. We wandered some more, went to wall street and saw the site where the good George W. was inaugurated, sadly the statue is looking straight at the NY stock exchange, oh how our ideals have changed. This is a bit out of order as this is the point we went to lunch at the docks but whatever. Then we headed back towards the theater after stopping for a quick drink. The play was amazing, but I'll do a separate post about that.

I really wanted to go into the gift shop but it was just mobbed with people so I said I'd go back later, sadly that never happened. I called up my sisters BF and asked where he recommends for a reasonably priced dinner. He said Hells Kitchen, which made one member of our group nervous. I told her it used to be a bad neighborhood but its pretty nice now, I have no idea if thats true or not but I heard one comedian say something to that effect and it put her at ease so whatever. At some point during this walk I notice that my cheeks, the ones on my face, are hurting. I haven't felt that in a long time, I bet theres are many people who never do, they were sore because I have a pretty big smile and I had this giant grin plastered on my face for at least the last 4 hours, and the majority of the time for the last 24 hours at that point. Thats one surefire sign of a good day when your face is sore from too much smiling. At some point we decided that we weren't that hungry and we were going to pay too much no matter what so lets just pick a restaurant and get some drinks in us and a bite to eat. The big sis's BF came over for a drink which was pretty cool considering he had to trek half way across the city just to sit with me for like half an hour over a beer. I think he really likes her, which is great, he listens to lame music but otherwise hes a really nice guy, the only thing about the two of them that I don't like is that they live like 6 hours apart. I had a few overpriced Guinnesses and the others split a pitcher of sangrias. The fun part of that was that two of them were light weights and were stumbling a little on the walk back to the bus. my friend walked arm in arm with the two lightweights on either side while I lead us back to the bus. Those of us who can handle our alcohol decided to stop into a store for a beer for the road. At first I didn't think it was a great idea, then I realized that while my friend might get in trouble there wasn't much of anything they could do to me once the bus was moving. I should have grabbed two. The bus ride back sucked, way too tired and couldn't sleep. at least they threw in a movie, Freedom Writers, pretty good flick. The do gooder teacher trying to save the inner city youths. The scene when the kid talks about being homeless was intense. Then I tried like hell to sleep to no avail. I even laid down on the floor in the middle of the isle but that didn't work either. We got back to town and we walked back across campus, I went to my truck and she went to her dorm, before we split ways I let her know that as much as I enjoyed the play, the reason I'd been smiling for the last 20 some hours was because of her, and I meant it.

Before anyone gets too happy for me. I talked with the lady friend and said I like her and I think she likes me, or am I crazy ( I worded it slightly different) and she said yes she does like me but right now things are a little complicated, theres sort of a guy back home, so for now we're friends. Which I'm totally cool with, we're being open and honest. About the only thing I've figured out about relationships is that almost all problems stem from either lack of communication or lack of honesty, or both. I really don't think women are as crazy as they seem, I just think that without knowing whats going on anyone can seem crazy. So for the time being we are just friends, or Flirtatious Friends as she put it. Sounds good to me. Anyway, a pretty damn good weekend. Now I just gotta review Spamalot.

A weekend

I had quite the weekend, I just wish I could remember a bit more of it. We went to a local event called Wine-On-Ice, so called because its a wine tasting held in a hockey rink, luckily with the ice itself covered. Someone said they thought it would be more fun on the actual ice, but I disagree. It was tough enough walking on that much wine, ice would have meant severe bruising. So we had plenty of wine and then headed off to the bar, I don't recall how we got there, I'm sure someone picked us up. I don't know much of what happened at the bar but a good time was had none-the-less. I bite a friend of mine, messed with the musician, stumbled and danced, eventually getting a lift back to my place. Where I knocked the TV over and broke the door off the TV stand. Good times. Then in the very early morning hours I woke up on the couch and there is a random woman playing the guitar and singing songs, along with my roommate and another of his friends. We laughed and had another bottle of wine before they had to head off to school, luckily they had an easy day because they hadn't slept and were a little drunk.

Saturday I went to a birthday party, it was a good time but I was a bit more reserved. It was during this time that I found out a lot of what had happened the night before. Sunday I slept, and did a bit of reading.

A Compliment

In talking to hot intern she gave me one of the nicest compliments I've ever had. She was working on her internship evaluation and I made a joke about if I was in the write up. She said oh well yeah of course, first was something about being a nice guy, followed by, "if you're having a bad day, go see Tim." Thanks hot intern, that means more than you'll ever know.

Das Weekend

I know I've been slaking on the world politics, the war, corporate control of everything and the battle with religion and all that other fun stuff, its true. I have something of a one track mind and at the moment it focused pretty intently on one person and one person only. I was even able to spend a little time with that person this weekend. But in a rather uncharacteristic move I'm not going to talk about that much. Basically on friday I said hey we're (another person from work and I) going to the bar, wanna come with us? She said maybe, and ended up being there. Turns out shes good friends with a kid I've know since, well as long as he's been alive. We had a nice conversation, or at least about as good of one as you can hope for at a bar, and that was that. Not much to report.

Then Sunday I had a thanksgiving party at the friend who threw the halloween parties. I wasn't expecting like a full freaking thanksgiving dinner. The food was good, excellent when you consider that it seemed like one of the five girls actually knew what she was doing. One later admitted she had never cooked a real meal before, a huge turkey dinner isn't a normal starter but hey it worked. Then it all ended with a pie fight between the guy who's house we were at and his girlfriend. It was hilarious, just to be clear it was a fun fight no anger, started by eating whip cream outta the can, then feeding each other and missing and well, you know how that shit can escalate. The finish was the big chocolate mousse that went every where. I then pointed out how we did lots of drinking at the last few parties and nothing crazy happened, we don't drink but have food and suddenly the place is trashed. I think we're going to end up painting one of his walls. Good times.

Now I've just got to get the nerve up to ask new girl out on a proper date, I think I'm going to try for the classic dinner date, wish me luck.

I got into a fight with Mr. Morgan

Captain Morgan to be precise. I think I'm going to lay off the hard stuff for a while. I was trying to go that route as opposed to beer as a half assed diet idea. A lot less calories in liquor than in a shit load of beer. Guess I'll have to do some extra sit-ups because The Captain causes too many other problems. Namely getting wasted and passing out at a party. Real wasted. Like on the drive home I mentioned how the girl from last week was being pretty rude, she refused to so much as make eye-contact with me, let alone actually talk. To which my friend casually replied maybe it's because you were making out with Blah Blah Blah*. Um I did what now? First she was acting that way as soon as she showed up so no thats not the reason, but more importantly which one was Blah Blah Blah? He described her. Really? Sweet, she seemed pretty damn chill, cute too. Then he pointed out that she wasn't exactly single (either has a BF or very recently broke up, hear two stories) and so her friend stepped in to break us apart. Then I got worried, my drunk ass making out with an attractive woman and someone tried to interfere? Shit what sort of stupidity did I engage in after that. Nah you were very respectful, no one was made at you, she asked you to stop and you did. Oh cool, take that Mr. Morgan! I can retain some self control even while under your spell. Of course I'm guessing that rejection might also have led to my excessive alcohol consumption, it was probably excessive before but I can see myself being angry (or at least unhappy)at that point and just flipping the bottle vertical to drown any feelings I might have tried to experience. None of it really matters, other than the fact that I think I'm going to lay off the alcohol in general for a bit, but especially avoid the liquor, beer and wine I have half a chance at moderation. Oh and I'm hoping that Blah Blah Blah is in the recently single category, she was cool, well from the evening that I remember, and apparently even what I don't remember I considered a good thing at the time. I'm actually glad that things were stopped between us, I don't want to be the drunken rebound hook up. I'd like a relationship with someone, and thats not a good way to start. Of course if I'm not careful I could also develop a reputation as a man whore, which would be incredibly ironic. Then there is the new woman at work, I don't know if shes single but if she is well I'll probably make a complete ass of myself, wish me luck!

* identity hidden - thank you Biz Markie.

Happy Halloween

I like this holiday. It has no pretensions of anything serious, at least anymore. It's just an excuse to dress up, be silly, and have a good time. During Christmas and Thanksgiving suicides go up people think about those they miss and all sorts of depressing shit, don't get me wrong theres lots of fun in those holidays too but there is justifiable sadness too. Halloween is just fun, no one looks down on you if you don't like Halloween, you don't get called a grinch you're just not in costume. I for one had a blast this weekend. Now that I got shit straightened out with Garfunkel, that was her costume, all thats left is a bunch of good memories, some are a little fuzzy but I got nothing bad. It also was quite possibly the most blasphemy I've ever packed into a weekend. I dressed as Jesus so naturally I had to tell some Jesus jokes. I actually think my costume turned out pretty good, so good in fact that I might even discard my anonymity for the moment and post a picture of my self, in two years with this blog I have never done this. I think I only used my real name once. The anonymity is part of why I blog, I'm free to say anything I possibly want about any subject that I want. I'll go on a huge rant about some politician or some emo ass whining about some misadventure in the land of the ladies and it doesn't matter. Oh well its a bad ass costume and I need to show it off, oh and Jesus has gained a lot of weight since he died, two thousand years of partying in heaven, and I don't fuck with no light beer.
I should also point out that this is my Fourth party of the weekend so I'm not quite as dapper as I once looked.

Why do the ladies love Jesus? Cause he's hung like this!
I used that joke many many times. Plus I got to do the joke from The Crow, I was at a big party at the Holiday Inn and walked up to the counter, slapped three big ass nails down and said, "hey, can ya put me up for the night?" The lady behind the counter just said, "I've had a shitty night, that just made it a little better." So Jesus did a good deed. I carried those nails for two days just so I could use that joke. I also had a water bottle filled with wine. One fun part was at the bar the second night I had forgotten to hit the ATM so I walked a couple blocks to the nearest one. I walked in and immediately everyone is looking at me. I just laughed, looked around and found the ATM. Three younger guys were particularly amused, one started to take a picture with his cell phone. So I told him my why do the ladies love Jesus joke, two started laughing and the one with his phone out suddenly didn't look amused. "I believe that if Jesus drops you with his left hand he catches you with his right." So I whipped out my nails and asked him if he could put me up for the night. then walked away. In retrospect I should have said, yeah he catches you, unless you fall through that hole in the middle of his hand. Hindsight is 20/20. His friends were still laughing. Then finished the night at a party with a very nice guy/girl ratio and Jesus fooled around with Garfunkel. I love Halloween.

Halloween

Good times were had by all. I've got a few photo's of myself but so far just from the fourth party of the weekend and I'm not looking my best. If I get a good enough photo I might just post it here, which would be a first. Anyway I went to a party at the Holiday Inn for the Monster Ball. the place was packed, it was fun. Then went to a friends house for his party, and more fun was found. The Saturday I went to the Zombie Ball but I left early to go to a party at another friends house, and definitely had a good time. Halloween kicks ass.

Take A Stand

We held the culminating event of the summer last night. I got there early and set up the sound equipment, that went perfectly despite the fact that Ive never set up a PA before. It's pretty easy when there's only one mic. Then it got close to the hour and people started filing in. We had no food and no music and we had a decent crowd, we were getting nervous. I was quite hot from lack of a/c and carrying heavy sound equipment so I walked down to the nearest store for a drink. When I got back the food was unloading and some kid was jammin' on the piano. So that all worked out. I was quite surprised at how full the place was, my guess is around 50-70 people were there. I got to see some old friends, like the folks from Democracy School, which was very nice.

After some music and food we sat down and our first three speakers who had actually pre-written things spoke. It was good, the crowd was getting into it fairly well. Then we opened the mic to anyone who wanted to talk and probably half the audiance came up at some point to speak their mind. I was one of the early ones. I fumbled a bit at the start, I'm not sure why I got nervous, I think I need more practice with public speaking. The person before me spoke of the apathy of her generation, I continued with that theme pointing out how odd it is that my generation is so sadly apathetic considering its people my age that are fighting and dying. I pointed out how I don't like the term "leaders" when talking about politicians, in a democracy the elected officials are not the bosses they are the servants of the people, we are the bosses and if we don't like the job they are doing then we should fire them. The next guy picked up that ball and ran with it with a great sound bite. He said, "if Kuhl won't meet with us now then we'll meet with him in November." Overall the speakers were great, one person who's a Vietnam vet and usually full of fire couldn't stop talking about Lee Iacocca's book. I thought it distracted from what he was trying to say by the repeated references but it did make me want to read the book. We had one conspiracy guy who wanted to tell us all about how bush planned 9/11, I'm all for a real independent investigation but lets avoid the conspiracy theories folks. One person genuinely pissed me off by bringing up religion and how bush manipulated it so much, which is true no anger there, then she said shes a woman of faith and that the opposite of faith is not doubt it is fear, and how we must not sucome to fear. It reminded me of Patrick Swayze in Donnie Darko. Well fuck you very much my lack of faith has nothing to do with fear, the opposite of faith is reason. But we were in a church, and I was surrounded by people from Pax Christie and other groups like that so I let it slide. Again I want to say again that this whole event was very good its just that I seem to be recalling the parts I disliked much better than the good. Probably because the good was exactly what you would have expected, anyway I'm now going to focus on the part that I simply hated.

From out of nowhere a guy who has been instrumental in this whole thing came up and led the group in some crappy as old worn out hippie song, it wasn't kumbaya but it was close. He asked everyone to stand, I was expecting him to lead a prayer, he is the chaplain at a local college, but no he wanted to sing... I stood up not knowing what I was getting into. I expected the heads to bow while I held mine high with eyes open. Thats an interesting metaphor right there, the religious close there eyes while the doubters look for truth, but thats unrelated. The chaplain tried to get me into the front circle but I sure as fuck wasn't down for that, then the person next to me grabbed my hand, luckily I was on the end, but there I was in a crowded room full of old people joined in circles singing hippie songs swaying back and forth. It was horrible. It made me instantly aware of why the general public can never take the peace movement seriously. The majority in this country are against the war but the vast majority is not involved in working towards peace, besides apathy which is the biggest reason, second has to be that peace activists are weird people. Normal Americans don't want to stand in a circle singing songs that could put you to sleep, its not cool. I wanted to kick my way to the mic and say heres one from my generation and start in with some Anti-Flag. Some will say that I'm making too big a deal out of this but I don't. I think those who engage in this type of activity in an environment where we are trying to reach out to a wider audience are doing very real harm to the movement. Shit I'm part of the movement and it made me uncomfortable. The video will be up at some point, I know I'm in it a bit, I'm the fat guy with chops standing still while everyone else sways not singing and trying not to look at the camera. I had earlier talked about trying to get young people out to events. If I had managed to get any of my friends to go I would have been humiliated, they sure as hell never would have come back, I would have been a laughing stock. That part is not an exaggeration which is why I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that this crap hurts the peace movement as a whole.

So to finish up the meeting went better than I expected, a good time was had by all, just don't ask me to sing, unless you've got a punk band.

I ain't dead yet

I just got back from a great trip to Pittsburgh to see my sister. I did a little shadowing with the league of young voters, I went to the National Aviary and went to a big party called Hot House. It was a good time but now Im back to the grind stone so I'll tell that story later.

This week should be fun, one of my favorite people is in town for the week, I've got a vigil tonight that I'm not looking forward to, but the town hall meeting afterwards might be fun. I had a great time last week and this one should be great too. Life is good.

Block Party / Dead Prez

I finally got to see Chapelle's Block Party, I liked it. As he put it, he threw the concert he always wanted to see. I'm not terribly into hip-hop but I like good lyrics, I like music thats trying to take a stance and move people. Most commercial hip-hop is anything but inspiring. Songs like the current, party like a rock star, this is why I'm hot, and my lip gloss is poppin' make me want to drive a semi-pointed spike through the idiot who spent less time writing the song than it takes to sing, and stand it on end Vlad the Impaler style right next to the record company exec who though those songs were worthy of air time.

Then there's the good hip-hop, which is what Dave is into. Ok so Kanye West is a bit lame nowadays, and Erica Baddu's never did it for me but many people love her, there was Mos Def who I'm a big fan of, his right hand man was there Talib Kweli, The Fugges did their thing although I didn't think it was a great rendition of their classic "killing me softly" but maybe it was better live. There is a great scene where Wyclef is talking with a marching band from Daves hometown that came to the show. He says how its great to see some many black people in college, he gives a quick overview of his life, move here from Haiti taught himself english at the library as his third language, says theres libraries in the hood and if their aren't then call the mayor, call the governor and get some libraries built, don't blame whit people for anything its all up to you, if you want it bad enough you can do it. It was a great little one minute talk, then he starts singing "If I was President" with them. Ok back to the line up. The Root, they kicked ass of course, and one thing I really liked was the fact that there was a real band up on stage all night, they even had horns. Common was good but I'm going to pick on him latter for something off-stage, then there was the part that stole the show for me. Dead Prez. These guys are no joke. Dave points out how the more real you are the less likely you are to get on the radio, and these fuckers are real. They don't hit on issues so much as throttle issues. They talk shit about all the shit that comes over the airwaves, the go after police corruption, the attack politicians and call for revolution. I'm diggin it even if they do say cracker a bit, as long as they don't blanket hate all white people then were cool, I'm fine with hating individuals but to hate all white people would be just as racist as those they oppose. Any way heres a part I liked from the song Hip Hop.

Uh, who shot biggie smalls?
If we dont get them, they gonna get us all
Im down for runnin up on them crackers in they city hall
We ride for yall, all my dogs stay real
Nigga dont think these record deals gonna feed your seeds
And pay your bills because they not
Mcs get a little bit of love and think they hot
Talkin bout how much money they got, all yall records sound the same
I sick of that fake thug, r & b, rap scenario all day on the radio
Same scenes in the video, monotonous material, yall dont here me though
These record labels slang our tapes like dope
You can be next in line, and signed, and still be writing rhymes and broke
You would rather have a lexus, some justice, a dream or some substance?
A beamer, a necklace or freedom?
Still a nigga like me dont playa hate, I just stay awake
This real hip hop, and it dont stop until we get the po-po off the block
They call it....

And heres the video for the same song.


Oh and I said I'd pick on Common so here goes, before the concert he was leading a little prayer circle. He thanked god for the weather, it was supposed to rain but god was showing his face and showing them he wanted their concert to be successful because he was keeping the rain away. Shortly after that the rain started and didn't let up all night. How does a religious person accept that? God didn't like my music? He didn't care, he doesn't exist oh wait thats my view.

After my last post about a primarily black movie that made me work hard not to hate people, its nice to counter it with a mostly black movie that shows the good people are capable of. I guess I didn't really hit on that part much but it was kinda uplifting. Just lots of good people having a good time, doing what they can to make the world a little better place. I highly recommend this film, but the music is the feature, if your expecting lots of Chapelle's humor you might be a little disappointed, it has humor but the music and the people are the feature.

The little things

It's easy to get caught up in all the pain and misery of life and forget that overall people are generally good. Of this I am still convinced no matter how many times we try to wipe out groups of our fellow man for being the wrong color skin, or born on the wrong piece of land, or for believing in the wrong invisible sky daddy. I was reminded of this today while standing in line waiting for a sub from a local pizza shop. A woman had ordered her food and when the guy behind the counter went to hand her her drink she asked for help, she had a physical disability that would have made it a difficult task. Because of the layout he could not get the drink for her so he simply looked over at another patron that he knew and asked him to get the woman a drink. Without a second thought the young man grabbed the cup and filled it with water and ice then brought it to the table where she was going to eat. It was a very minor thing it took less than a minute but saved this woman considerable hardship. Some will laugh at my silly story and think, "you think that is a good deed?" Yes I do. It's not the rare huge acts of selfless good will that will save the world its the little things, that remind us that were all in this together, we're all helpless at times, you may be strong so you carry the heavy grocery bag, you may be smart so you help those that are not. No one is good at everything, and I like to think that everyone is good at something. The more we are willing to help each other the better this world will be. There may be times when it feels like your helping everyone else and getting nothing back, but give it time it all works out in the end.

10 fingers

I still got all my digits, hope everyone else had an hospital-free 4th of July, but if you didn't please share the story. Actually every fourth of July I think of a scene from The Simpsons when Homer is buying fireworks, "Celebrate the birth of our country by blowing up a small piece of it." Actually it rained all day yesterday and I didn't do shit.

Das Weekend

Took a long weekend and went to Pittsburgh with the 'rents to see my sister and the US Open, golf not tennis. When I first heard about it I thought tennis, not a sport I'm into but worth seeing once, plus I bet there are a lot of attractive women at a pro tennis match. Unfortunately we were going to watch golf. Ok it was fathers day and dad was happy, that was good, plus I got to spend a weekend with the fam, good enough for me. But honestly Golf is a horrible spectator sport. I know I know, not exactly headline news but I figured it would be more interesting than it was. It was fun when we finally got up next to a green and then just waited there until the top guys got to us. It was a good vantage point, we could see almost the entire hole. But without binoculars we couldn't see where their shots went so it only got interesting when the were putting. The fun came from the fact that it was a very very difficult course and the guy were challenged to sink even short puts. Its fun watching the best in the world get made to look foolish.

Good Weekend

Went to a concert on friday, a hippie jam band, I got bored quickly plus I was feeling rather bokononist at the time, so I went to a keg party instead. Let me explain, earlier in the day I saw a picture of someone doing a keg stand, my first thought was, wow I haven't done a keg stand in years. Later that day I get invited to a keg party. And in the words of Bokonon "Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God." I only feel comfortable referencing god in the context of a religion that openly admits its all a bunch of lies.

So the hippie band is pretty good if your into 10 minute solos and cover songs, oh and hippies. Sure they are probably a lot more "talented" musicians than what I prefer but its just dull by comparison. I'll get back to music later.

So the kegger was fun. A ways out of town, a keg and a fire, what more do you need? How about drunk people on a four wheeler? How about two drunk people on a quad doing small wheelies. Man I love drunken stupidity, mind you I wasn't that drunk or stupid so I merely watched the stupidity in action. Luckily no one fell off, no one got hurt at all which surprised me a little. Talked to a hot british girl for a while. She was cute but that accent just drove me wild, and I was hardly alone with that sentiment. She fearlessly rode the quad on several occasions. Good times were had.

Saturday was a small benefit concert for a local kid thats battling with cancer and medical bills. We did what we could but the reality is if it went really well we might have covered a day or two in the hospital, and rest days at that. But at least we did something and we had a damn good time doing it. The highlight of the evening was the first show of Don't Look In The Basement. Just some local idiots but for a first show it was freaking great. Their lyrics are funny, they can tear up the frets when they need but their willing to do dorky breakdowns which makes it all the more fun. Plus we has some decent little moshing going on at a bar that really wasn't expecting it. Obviously my friends in EPD played as well which was also good, but I've seen them many times before. Good times.

Then of course is the party after the show, lots of people in a not terribly big apartment. More drunken stupidity but other than spilled beer not damage to persons or property. Although I did think a fight was going to break out at one point because Johnny Drunk-O was earning his title by drunkenly insulting everyone in the room. A couple of us stepped in a said hey, we call him Drunk-O because hes always wasted and this is no exception, its not worth it, don't do it. At about 5 I caught a ride home and cabs came for the rest. Good times were had.

Sunday I slept a lot, and I got a ride to go get my truck. Which constituted a good time as well because all I wanted was to sleep a bit and do some reading. Oh and I'm reading a new to me Carl Sagan book, its my first from him. I was also happy to buy it from a local Used Book Store for $4, can't beat that. So that also earns a, good times. Hope everyone else had a fun weekend too.