The PDA people were not on the train today. It was funny because some dude sat in their seat. Somebody close to me said, “No free show today, that guy took their seat.” The dude was talking about the PDA couple. So I perked up and listened. The guy was telling his buddy how they were playing tongue hockey right in front of him and he sorted leaned in to encroach on their personal space. He went on to say they got perturbed and gave him dirty looks, but did not stop with their smooch session. Some old women joined in and started talking about it as well. I mean, I knew that everyone was distracted by what they were doing, it was just funny to hear people talk about it. I should’ve taken a poll on what people thought their deal was. I didn’t though. I have a much stronger desire to confront them now though. I bet they would get pissed off. They’d prolly tell me to buzz off. I dunno. I just feel I have to get to the bottom of this.
A friend of a friend who is also a friend was in town last night. We were gonna go to the Sox game, but it was raining and there was a general lack of interest in the Sox cuz they suck. Instead of going to the game we went out to Old Town Social. I knew I had an important meeting today, so I took it easy. I did try some different stuff though. Well not that different. I started out with a gumballhead. That, as we know, is a tasty brew. I tried my buddy’s brew, a stone brewing levitation ale. It is low in Alc, like 4.4%, and pretty high in IPA hoppiness and flavor. I def recommend and will have to get one another day. Another tasty easy drinkin brew was the Two Brothers Session Ale. I dunno if I was eating something at the time, but I didn’t get as much flavor as I had hoped out of this brew. I def will try it again cuz 2 bros always brews a good beer. My last beer was a North Coast Brewery Scrimshaw ale. It was just ok. I was expecting more flavor. I was expecting more out of OTS on a Thursday night. We didn’t get it. Well there were some hotties there, make no mistake, but not the usual abundance I’ve seen in the past. Things may have picked up later as I had to bail around 10 pm. I’m pretty beat right now. I’ve made it through two important meetings today, so I’m ready for a nap. No rest of the weary, I gotta go to my daughter’s softball game and then cruise home to watch the blackhawks play hockey. Good times. I can’t believe the hawks are up 2-0. Go Hawks! I hope they win tonight, one game at a time. Should be fun to watch though.
I just don’t have a ton to chat about today. It’s been weeks since I’ve checked in, and I can’t think of anything interesting I’ve done in that timeframe. I’m still going through the divorce. That is taking a lot of my time and energy. I haven’t practiced with the band in over a week. I think our show on the 29th is cancelled. I haven’t heard from them in a while. I dunno if I’m even in the band anymore. I should prolly start looking for a different band. I could just wait for the divorce to get over and then I’ll have more free time for rock. I’m pretty geeked about all the shows coming up. I’m trying to figure out what I’m gonna do for the HUM show. I’d like to take the kids to it. That’s prolly what I’ll do. I think it would be fun. Hopefully the weather will be nice for it. The ponys play this Monday and that should be good, I don’t think I can make it there though. Then I’ve got the Noise by Numbers show a week from Sat. I think I’m gonna hit that show. I think. I forget who all is playing, but Noise by Numbers and the Ataris are the bands I want to check.
I’m in training for this 5k I gotta run next week. I ran 2 miles yesterday, so I think I should be ok. It’s pretty cool, cuz I haven’t really trained much for this race. I ran like 3 times before now. What I think has helped me out is all the walking. Walking 2 miles every day has helped me just pick the running right back up. I haven’t made much knee pain and my hips feel pretty good, I think I’ll be good to go for the race. I’m gonna try to run 3.5 miles this weekend and see where I’m at. I doesn’t really matter, cuz I’m running in the race anyway, and if I have to walk, I will.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Crucial Barbeque
I’m a creature of habit, so I ride the train in the same car every day, well the train that I catch to Chicago, cuz I have my pick. In the afternoon, I just sit wherever there’s a spot. Believe it or not, I’m not the only one who does this, so pretty much the same cast of characters are in the car every morning. Do you know where I’m going with this? The PDA couple. These people are all over each other. Well let me qualify that, the guy is all over the woman. Like today, it’s 7:00 am, and he leans over and I think he’s gonna whisper something to his woman (wife?), and he starts nuzzling her neck. I’m like, really?, nuzzling on the train at 7 am? I just so want to find out what their deal is. Have they been married for 20 years? Are they having an affair? What’s the longest time the guy has gone (when they are together) without making physical contact with her. I’m guessing that one is like 2 minutes, tops. It’s baffling to me, is the guy that in love with the woman? Or is he just trying extremely hard to convince her (and himself) that he’s that in love with her? Is he in love with her at all? Is it lust? I HAVE QUESTIONS!!! I really want to approach them and ask them some questions. I just can’t decide what their reactions would be. Are they oblivious to the fact that they basically get it on in front of 25 or so people every morning? Just as a recap, we are not talking about nuzzling only, these people have been full on making out, on the train, in front of everybody. I wonder if he feels her up, or she gets him off right there. I bet they do. Cuz otherwise why get all frisky on the train? Why get yourself all amped up? You are just gonna have to walk to work with a bonehenge kickin. I wonder if they would be bummed if I asked them a few questions. It’s like I could give a shit what Justin Bieber’s favorite color is, or his favorite slurpee flavor, or how he uses tai chi to fend off the babes; but I do want to know what makes the PDA people on the train tick. To be continued…
And now for something completely different. Murphy’s Law. Not the band, but the notion. The band is kick ass though. I’ve seen them live and the singer has a case of beer (canned) with him on stage and he basically destroys the whole case and that’s part of the show. Seriously, he starts the show with a case of bud, by the end, all the cans are ripped apart and empty, and maybe the guy has drank like 1 beer. He basically just sprays it all around and rips the cans apart and that is his deal. “Goin to a crucial bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, barbecue.” Ok, that’s Murphy’s Law the band, now I’m moving on to ML the concept. A guy is leaving our work and a bunch of work fell in his lap, he’s like “This is busier than I’ve been in weeks.” I said, “That’s Murphy’s law.” Then I was wondering, is that Murphy’s Law? The actual definition of Murphy’s Law is “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” I don’t look at ML that way. I think of it more that life sometimes has inherent irony and that is Murphy’s Law. Like it’s ironic that the guy is leaving and all the sudden he’s busy. I like that definition better. I think ML has a lot of meanings, like when you get something all set up and realize that you forgot one piece and now you have to take it all apart. Another example of what I think Murphy’s Law entails involves when the thing that you least expected to happen, happens, that’s Murphy’s Law. It’s not that something happens to go wrong, but you just didn’t expect it. I think it’s Murphy’s Law when the singer of Murphy’s Law gets a vicious cut from the aluminum beer can that he just ripped apart.
Speaking of rock sounds. I have been thinking about catching the Noise by Numbers show on the 29th. It’s part of the Windy city Soundclash festival. Well I guess that show is at 330 in the afternoon. I’m def thinking I wanna check it. I also might be playing a show that day. Oh yeah, did I mention that the show at the Box Social got cancelled? So stay tuned for updates on that, but it was supposed to be on the 29th and we are also supposed to be playing a show on the 12th at the box social or at some street fest in front of the Congress. I am most def gonna check out the show on the 13th, which is part of the streetfest in front of the Congress, Pegboy is playing and the Arrivals are playing. Should rock. The night before that, Off with their heads and The Arrivals are playing at Subterranean, but we have a show I think, so that is a work in progress. Don’t forget the must see show, HUM at Pritzker Pavilion on Monday. It’s Free!
And now for something completely different. Murphy’s Law. Not the band, but the notion. The band is kick ass though. I’ve seen them live and the singer has a case of beer (canned) with him on stage and he basically destroys the whole case and that’s part of the show. Seriously, he starts the show with a case of bud, by the end, all the cans are ripped apart and empty, and maybe the guy has drank like 1 beer. He basically just sprays it all around and rips the cans apart and that is his deal. “Goin to a crucial bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, barbecue.” Ok, that’s Murphy’s Law the band, now I’m moving on to ML the concept. A guy is leaving our work and a bunch of work fell in his lap, he’s like “This is busier than I’ve been in weeks.” I said, “That’s Murphy’s law.” Then I was wondering, is that Murphy’s Law? The actual definition of Murphy’s Law is “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” I don’t look at ML that way. I think of it more that life sometimes has inherent irony and that is Murphy’s Law. Like it’s ironic that the guy is leaving and all the sudden he’s busy. I like that definition better. I think ML has a lot of meanings, like when you get something all set up and realize that you forgot one piece and now you have to take it all apart. Another example of what I think Murphy’s Law entails involves when the thing that you least expected to happen, happens, that’s Murphy’s Law. It’s not that something happens to go wrong, but you just didn’t expect it. I think it’s Murphy’s Law when the singer of Murphy’s Law gets a vicious cut from the aluminum beer can that he just ripped apart.
Speaking of rock sounds. I have been thinking about catching the Noise by Numbers show on the 29th. It’s part of the Windy city Soundclash festival. Well I guess that show is at 330 in the afternoon. I’m def thinking I wanna check it. I also might be playing a show that day. Oh yeah, did I mention that the show at the Box Social got cancelled? So stay tuned for updates on that, but it was supposed to be on the 29th and we are also supposed to be playing a show on the 12th at the box social or at some street fest in front of the Congress. I am most def gonna check out the show on the 13th, which is part of the streetfest in front of the Congress, Pegboy is playing and the Arrivals are playing. Should rock. The night before that, Off with their heads and The Arrivals are playing at Subterranean, but we have a show I think, so that is a work in progress. Don’t forget the must see show, HUM at Pritzker Pavilion on Monday. It’s Free!
Monday, May 10, 2010
'Reading is Fun da mental
I don’t think it’s a good idea to start off every blog with. I dunno. It’s tempting though. Because I don’t know. I went and checked out a play in Chicago last night. It was one of those off-the-beaten-path productions. You know how you always say you want to check out more of those little plays? Well I finally did it. Didn’t hurt that a guy from work was in it and a bunch of people from work got together to go. I’m sort of a fringe player on the work social scene. It’s kinda hard cuz I’m so much older than everyone else. I think I hang pretty good though. They were talking about hipsters and I know hipsters pretty well, with their weird 50s nerd comb to the side hairstyles, their rolled up jeans, their bikes, their just too-hip-for you demeanors. You know what I’m talking about. Well anyway they had some book about hipsters floating around the dinner table. We grabbed dinner before the show. It didn’t make its way to me, but I knew what it was about. So yeah, I try to stay on top of current events and I can hang with a younger crowd. It went pretty well. We started out at this place called Wilde. For Oscar Wilde I guess. It def had an Irish feel to it. Lotsa tasty beers there, Gumballhead was on the menu, but alas they were out. I had another brew by Half Acre brewing, it was a lot like Gumballhead. Light and flaky. Good way to get started. I have to say we had a real nice dinner. All the people there were the peeps that I really get along with at work. It was cool. I felt like they thought I was ok and paid attention to what I was saying. Always nice. After dinner and drinks it was time to hit the show.
I was pretty amped for the show. I didn’t know what to expect. I had a couple beers, so I was slightly jingled, all ready to sit back and soak it in. Well the show we saw was called “The Love of the Nightengale.” It’s fairly well known in certain circles. It’s based on a greek tragic myth, and it def has some hints of Shakespeare in it. The production company is Red Tape Theater, google it. When we got there, I was geeked to see that they were selling beer. Not so geeked to find out that all the beer is room temperature. I think you can byob there though, which I might do for the next show. We get there and the theater is small. I was thinking it looked like it only held 20 people, but in actuality it’s more like 50. The seats are basically right in the middle of the stage. Let me explain how this works if you haven’t been to a U2 show recently. A majority of the action occurs in the middle of the room, and then there is a ring that goes around the room where stuff happens, then there is a sort of balcony on one side that they work in there too. So I ended up in the front row all the way to one side and the actors were like a foot away from me at certain points. I dug it. It must be hard to stay in character when you get a whiff of somebody’s chili-cheese frito breath in your face, but I guess that is one of the perils of the business. The actors did a really great job. Our man from work definitely stole the show, but we all had that figured. Seriously, our man played the Captain and I thought the captain had a really cool thematic purpose. I don’t like to spoil the story, so go see it and figure it out for yourself. I really liked the show, the other interesting element aside from about 10 women dancing around in underwear at one point, was that one of the leads looked like a direct descendent of Joan Cusack. I would’ve put money that she was related. I guess not though. I’m gonna check the show again next week with some friends, so I’ll prolly have more to say about it then.
On a sad note, one of the people that attended the show. The crazy guy who I’ve written about before. My friend from work, got let go. Sheesh, I’m gonna try not to take it personally, but my Asian buddy who liked peanut butter took off, and now one of my other main homies got laid off. Total bummer. This was the guy I wrote about a long time ago. One of my first days here at work, I was just sitting at a table alone. The guy comes up and says, “Do you mind if I join you? Well it really doesn’t matter if you mind cuz I’m joining you anyway.” He is a funny guy and has a fresh, if not completely off the wall, perspective. That first day, by the end of lunch we were talking about whose side we would be on if there was an apocalypse. I was totally on the good side, he said he would be on the bad side. Funny shtuff. We had a bunch of other crazy conversations and he was definitely outspoken on the finer issues. He didn’t have many inhibitions. One time at lunch someone at the table mentioned that they were considering law school. He says, “Don’t do it. If you want justification why you shouldn’t do it, look into Richard’s eyes (our general counsel). Take a good look. You’ll see that the legal profession sucks out your soul.” Richard (name changed) was sitting at the next table. One of the top 3 head honchos in the office got a chance to hear our man wax poetic about herpes one day, I don’t think that went over well. Safe to say, this guy may have alienated a few people with his hilarious antics. One day he said he wanted to start a rumor, so he said that one of my compliance colleagues was a hermaphrodite. Classic stuff. He will be missed.
I didn’t do much over the weekend. I had a family obligation on Saturday, and when that was over, I just basically did laundry. While I was folding my laundry, I was watching Saturday Night Live. After weeks of hype, the much ballyhooed episode featuring Betty White had arrived. I have not watched SNL in years. I think on most Saturdays I’m busy, or just go to sleep earlier. For some reason I’ve come to believe that people who watch SNL are losers that don’t have anything else to do on a Saturday night. Lump me in that category for last Saturday. I’ve seen the video for “I’m on a boat” and some other SNL stuff, so I thought that they still had some talented funny people doing stuff on the show. Not so much. Betty White was pretty funny doing her monologue, but after that it was all down hill. You can google it if you want to see how bad it was. Funny thing, at lunch we were talking about it. One of the bits is a takeoff on MacGyver, called MacGruber. I thought it was annoyingly inane. So I bring it up to talk to the young people about and they were all laughing about it and said that there was a movie coming out based on it. Unfathomable. I really am at a loss for words on that. It was beyond not funny, beyond inane, and I have absolutely no idea how it can be made into a feature length film. The idea barely fits into 2 minutes. I’m getting old. I just don’t get this MacGruber thing. I have to move on.
Rock and roll news is good. The rock band known as Bleach Battalion is preparing its forces for a global onslaught. The onslaught commences on May 29 at the Box Social, next to the Congress Theater. We had a practice last night and although I practiced the set twice through at home, I wasn’t that geeked. I just wasn’t playing the songs that well. I always show up, but I was tempted to call in sick on this one. So I get there early, and the new bassist is already there. Score. We can start early. So we run through the set and it was not so good cuz the new guy was getting up to speed and I was getting warmed up. Then we went through it again and it was definitely passable. We took a break and shot the shit. It’s so fun listening to their punk rock stories. I love the stories. They were all sitting outside back in the day just hanging on the porch and one of their weird buddies just picks up brick and goes up to somebody’s house and throws it through their picture window. In broad daylight. Anarchy. I don’t condone that type of destruction, but it makes for a good story. After the chat we decided to run through the set one more time. We nailed it. I was pretty happy with my playing, everyone else seemed really excited about it. I figured the bassist would realize that I’m not that good but he’s all like “your rock solid man, very steady.” It helped me to have the bass there and I dunno, it all came together we sounded really tight. A couple more practices and we’ll be ready for sure.
I know I had some other things to shout about, but I can’t remember them now. That’s ok cuz this is already really long. In case you were wondering, it’s actually two blogs that got smooshed together. If you want to read more blogs I found a couple good ones, quixotic dancer is pretty entertaining when she writes, and this woman Danka is linked off of the QD blog. I totally forgot to mention the crazy market tumult of last week. It was crazy. You can read about it all over the place. Computers gone wild, not nearly as fun as girls gone wild.
I was pretty amped for the show. I didn’t know what to expect. I had a couple beers, so I was slightly jingled, all ready to sit back and soak it in. Well the show we saw was called “The Love of the Nightengale.” It’s fairly well known in certain circles. It’s based on a greek tragic myth, and it def has some hints of Shakespeare in it. The production company is Red Tape Theater, google it. When we got there, I was geeked to see that they were selling beer. Not so geeked to find out that all the beer is room temperature. I think you can byob there though, which I might do for the next show. We get there and the theater is small. I was thinking it looked like it only held 20 people, but in actuality it’s more like 50. The seats are basically right in the middle of the stage. Let me explain how this works if you haven’t been to a U2 show recently. A majority of the action occurs in the middle of the room, and then there is a ring that goes around the room where stuff happens, then there is a sort of balcony on one side that they work in there too. So I ended up in the front row all the way to one side and the actors were like a foot away from me at certain points. I dug it. It must be hard to stay in character when you get a whiff of somebody’s chili-cheese frito breath in your face, but I guess that is one of the perils of the business. The actors did a really great job. Our man from work definitely stole the show, but we all had that figured. Seriously, our man played the Captain and I thought the captain had a really cool thematic purpose. I don’t like to spoil the story, so go see it and figure it out for yourself. I really liked the show, the other interesting element aside from about 10 women dancing around in underwear at one point, was that one of the leads looked like a direct descendent of Joan Cusack. I would’ve put money that she was related. I guess not though. I’m gonna check the show again next week with some friends, so I’ll prolly have more to say about it then.
On a sad note, one of the people that attended the show. The crazy guy who I’ve written about before. My friend from work, got let go. Sheesh, I’m gonna try not to take it personally, but my Asian buddy who liked peanut butter took off, and now one of my other main homies got laid off. Total bummer. This was the guy I wrote about a long time ago. One of my first days here at work, I was just sitting at a table alone. The guy comes up and says, “Do you mind if I join you? Well it really doesn’t matter if you mind cuz I’m joining you anyway.” He is a funny guy and has a fresh, if not completely off the wall, perspective. That first day, by the end of lunch we were talking about whose side we would be on if there was an apocalypse. I was totally on the good side, he said he would be on the bad side. Funny shtuff. We had a bunch of other crazy conversations and he was definitely outspoken on the finer issues. He didn’t have many inhibitions. One time at lunch someone at the table mentioned that they were considering law school. He says, “Don’t do it. If you want justification why you shouldn’t do it, look into Richard’s eyes (our general counsel). Take a good look. You’ll see that the legal profession sucks out your soul.” Richard (name changed) was sitting at the next table. One of the top 3 head honchos in the office got a chance to hear our man wax poetic about herpes one day, I don’t think that went over well. Safe to say, this guy may have alienated a few people with his hilarious antics. One day he said he wanted to start a rumor, so he said that one of my compliance colleagues was a hermaphrodite. Classic stuff. He will be missed.
I didn’t do much over the weekend. I had a family obligation on Saturday, and when that was over, I just basically did laundry. While I was folding my laundry, I was watching Saturday Night Live. After weeks of hype, the much ballyhooed episode featuring Betty White had arrived. I have not watched SNL in years. I think on most Saturdays I’m busy, or just go to sleep earlier. For some reason I’ve come to believe that people who watch SNL are losers that don’t have anything else to do on a Saturday night. Lump me in that category for last Saturday. I’ve seen the video for “I’m on a boat” and some other SNL stuff, so I thought that they still had some talented funny people doing stuff on the show. Not so much. Betty White was pretty funny doing her monologue, but after that it was all down hill. You can google it if you want to see how bad it was. Funny thing, at lunch we were talking about it. One of the bits is a takeoff on MacGyver, called MacGruber. I thought it was annoyingly inane. So I bring it up to talk to the young people about and they were all laughing about it and said that there was a movie coming out based on it. Unfathomable. I really am at a loss for words on that. It was beyond not funny, beyond inane, and I have absolutely no idea how it can be made into a feature length film. The idea barely fits into 2 minutes. I’m getting old. I just don’t get this MacGruber thing. I have to move on.
Rock and roll news is good. The rock band known as Bleach Battalion is preparing its forces for a global onslaught. The onslaught commences on May 29 at the Box Social, next to the Congress Theater. We had a practice last night and although I practiced the set twice through at home, I wasn’t that geeked. I just wasn’t playing the songs that well. I always show up, but I was tempted to call in sick on this one. So I get there early, and the new bassist is already there. Score. We can start early. So we run through the set and it was not so good cuz the new guy was getting up to speed and I was getting warmed up. Then we went through it again and it was definitely passable. We took a break and shot the shit. It’s so fun listening to their punk rock stories. I love the stories. They were all sitting outside back in the day just hanging on the porch and one of their weird buddies just picks up brick and goes up to somebody’s house and throws it through their picture window. In broad daylight. Anarchy. I don’t condone that type of destruction, but it makes for a good story. After the chat we decided to run through the set one more time. We nailed it. I was pretty happy with my playing, everyone else seemed really excited about it. I figured the bassist would realize that I’m not that good but he’s all like “your rock solid man, very steady.” It helped me to have the bass there and I dunno, it all came together we sounded really tight. A couple more practices and we’ll be ready for sure.
I know I had some other things to shout about, but I can’t remember them now. That’s ok cuz this is already really long. In case you were wondering, it’s actually two blogs that got smooshed together. If you want to read more blogs I found a couple good ones, quixotic dancer is pretty entertaining when she writes, and this woman Danka is linked off of the QD blog. I totally forgot to mention the crazy market tumult of last week. It was crazy. You can read about it all over the place. Computers gone wild, not nearly as fun as girls gone wild.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Another pleasant valley Sunday
Another pleasant valley Sunday
Current mood: strong
I’m trying to think what I have to say. It’s been weeks since I’ve checked in. Hrm. I practiced with Bleach Battalion last Thursday. It went pretty well. The songs sound good and we’ve got a lot of time before the shows, so they will get better and better. I have been practicing the new tunes and I’m thinking I’ll be pretty set to play the shows. So we have a show booked for June 12 and Off with their heads is playing that night. I’m gonna try to make it to the OWTH show after our show. I think we are playing early. Then I find out that The Arrivals are opening for OWTH. Total bummer. I gotta try to make it for that. On the bummer tip, I was driving home from practice on Thurs and I got a flat. Total barforama. I was way bummed and I didn’t want to have to pay for the new tire. Then I remembered that I got the “road handler” warranty. I went in to Sears and the guy says it’s gonna be $60 to replace the tire. This sounds like a good deal. Then just out of curiosity I ask, “Why is it so much? What’s the charge.” Then the guy does some figuring and says, “Oh well it’s only gonna be $30.” Bonus. So I got a new tire for $30 and that includes another road handler warranty on the new tire for 9 bux. Not bad. That worked out.
While I was getting my tire changed, I took a foray into the mall. First stop, Sears. I wasn’t real geeked about hitting Sears. When I was a kid, Sears was ok cuz they had a toy section. At some point they did away with the toys and now I look at sears as a great place to go if you want to pay more for something than it would be at most other places. Especially the electronics. I’m not cool with getting hosed, so I’m not cool with Sears. Anyway, I’m in Sears, so I start to look around. They had a 3D tv going with that Aliens Vs. Monsters movie. I put on the glasses and gave it a shot. It was actually pretty cool. It worked. It was def 3d. I would say it had more depth than stuff jumped out at you, but stuff def jumped out too. I just couldn’t see using glasses to watch TV. That’s lame. Although it might be cool if they showed Sports in 3D. If they could do that, it might make the technology take off. I’m thinking Football might be especially cool in 3D. As of right now, I don’t think it’s necessary to have a 3D TV, although it is a nice toy. Video games in 3D would be nuts too, I’m sure that’s coming. They gotta do that. The kids will have to have it, and as we all know, if the kids have to have it, they usually get it.
After the novelty of the 3d tv wore off, I moved on to other stores. I’m always glad to walk out of Sears cuz I know better things are ahead. I had time to kill and I needed to hit a store where I could do that. I also needed to charge my Iphone. Sharper Image. Perfect spot. I walk into SI and go right up to an iphone boombox and hook my Iphone up to start charging. I start walking around and all the sudden music off of my iphone starts rocking through the store. I’m like…total score. I get to charge my iphone, shop, and enjoy my music instead of the crap they were spitting out, which was foreigner I think (well foreigner’s not bad, but they were playing Jazz or some other junk mixed in.) While I was shopping I heard (from my ipod): Novacaine by Green Day, Getting old/losing touch by The Methadones, Sometimes by Perfect, and some other stuff. It was pretty kick ass. I’m not sure if the other patrons appreciated it, but I did. When I rolled out of there I had an awesome shopping experience and ¾ charge on my phone. There are always a lot of cool items at Shaper Image, but the coolest thing I saw was a pair of glasses that basically were a TV. You put them on and it was like watching a 50 inch TV or something. They worked pretty good, but when you take them off you have to adjust your focus and I’m thinking too much of that is not good for you. Like in the Jerk when everyone’s eyes got crossed, I’m thinking that might happen to you if you watch too much TV on the TV glasses. Cool item though. They also cost like 300 bucks. Not really worth it. Def one of those items that like 20 years ago or more you were like, “Dude, someday they are gonna have glasses that you put them on and you can watch TV.” Well that day has arrived my friends.
My final stop before getting my car was the Apple store. The place was packed. Apple is such a scam. You gotta love how they cornered the market in digital music. It still baffles my mind how they pulled that off. Then they did quite a number on the cellphone industry. Now they’ve got the ipad. I’m just not sure about this contraption. I checked it out. I was playing this game where you try to get the marble through the labyrinth. It was pretty stupid. Then I tried to play a racing game that didn’t work. I tried to use the keyboard which was an absolute waste of time. Trying to touchtype on the ipad is useless. It’s a mess. I type well and I couldn’t even type one word. You can’t rest your fingers on the keys, so You have no idea if you are even close to the home keys with your fingers hovering over the keyboard. It’s an exercise in futility. Typing texts on iphone is annoying, but on the Ipad, it’s just simply useless. I’m guessing the Ipad is trying to be a kindle on steroids. It was not light. I have to say it was prolly a pound. I’m guessing the kindle weighs like a quarter pound at most. I didn’t try to surf the net with it. I just got annoyed with it and bailed. It seemed like a giant Itouch/Iphone. If you have an Iphone, I don’t think you need an Ipad. Maybe other people have uses for them, I dunno. The people who worked in the store were carrying Ipads around like clipboards, I could see that. Maybe coaches and other clipboard holders (inventory people in a warehouse) will start using Ipads. That makes sense to me, it would allow them to track changes and write notes, juggle stuff around and surf porn. It all makes sense to me.
I know I had some other shopping adventures from Saturday, I just can’t remember what they were. One very strange thing over the weekend, A squirrel died right in front of my car. I was parked in the driveway, and there was a dead squirrel there. I didn’t run it over, it looked pretty normal, not flat, it was just dead. I’m thinking that maybe it fell out of a tree and broke its neck. Or it might have had a heart attack. Squirrels live a high stress life, they are always having to watch their nuts. So this morning was Garbage pickup, so I had to take a shovel and drop the squirrel in the can. I prolly should have said a few words, I mean words other than “oh geez, this is nasty. Oh my. I hope I don’t get rabies.” So yeah. The Squirrel is off to squirrel heaven and an unlimited supply of nuts. Lucky, Lucky, squirrel.
Current mood: strong
I’m trying to think what I have to say. It’s been weeks since I’ve checked in. Hrm. I practiced with Bleach Battalion last Thursday. It went pretty well. The songs sound good and we’ve got a lot of time before the shows, so they will get better and better. I have been practicing the new tunes and I’m thinking I’ll be pretty set to play the shows. So we have a show booked for June 12 and Off with their heads is playing that night. I’m gonna try to make it to the OWTH show after our show. I think we are playing early. Then I find out that The Arrivals are opening for OWTH. Total bummer. I gotta try to make it for that. On the bummer tip, I was driving home from practice on Thurs and I got a flat. Total barforama. I was way bummed and I didn’t want to have to pay for the new tire. Then I remembered that I got the “road handler” warranty. I went in to Sears and the guy says it’s gonna be $60 to replace the tire. This sounds like a good deal. Then just out of curiosity I ask, “Why is it so much? What’s the charge.” Then the guy does some figuring and says, “Oh well it’s only gonna be $30.” Bonus. So I got a new tire for $30 and that includes another road handler warranty on the new tire for 9 bux. Not bad. That worked out.
While I was getting my tire changed, I took a foray into the mall. First stop, Sears. I wasn’t real geeked about hitting Sears. When I was a kid, Sears was ok cuz they had a toy section. At some point they did away with the toys and now I look at sears as a great place to go if you want to pay more for something than it would be at most other places. Especially the electronics. I’m not cool with getting hosed, so I’m not cool with Sears. Anyway, I’m in Sears, so I start to look around. They had a 3D tv going with that Aliens Vs. Monsters movie. I put on the glasses and gave it a shot. It was actually pretty cool. It worked. It was def 3d. I would say it had more depth than stuff jumped out at you, but stuff def jumped out too. I just couldn’t see using glasses to watch TV. That’s lame. Although it might be cool if they showed Sports in 3D. If they could do that, it might make the technology take off. I’m thinking Football might be especially cool in 3D. As of right now, I don’t think it’s necessary to have a 3D TV, although it is a nice toy. Video games in 3D would be nuts too, I’m sure that’s coming. They gotta do that. The kids will have to have it, and as we all know, if the kids have to have it, they usually get it.
After the novelty of the 3d tv wore off, I moved on to other stores. I’m always glad to walk out of Sears cuz I know better things are ahead. I had time to kill and I needed to hit a store where I could do that. I also needed to charge my Iphone. Sharper Image. Perfect spot. I walk into SI and go right up to an iphone boombox and hook my Iphone up to start charging. I start walking around and all the sudden music off of my iphone starts rocking through the store. I’m like…total score. I get to charge my iphone, shop, and enjoy my music instead of the crap they were spitting out, which was foreigner I think (well foreigner’s not bad, but they were playing Jazz or some other junk mixed in.) While I was shopping I heard (from my ipod): Novacaine by Green Day, Getting old/losing touch by The Methadones, Sometimes by Perfect, and some other stuff. It was pretty kick ass. I’m not sure if the other patrons appreciated it, but I did. When I rolled out of there I had an awesome shopping experience and ¾ charge on my phone. There are always a lot of cool items at Shaper Image, but the coolest thing I saw was a pair of glasses that basically were a TV. You put them on and it was like watching a 50 inch TV or something. They worked pretty good, but when you take them off you have to adjust your focus and I’m thinking too much of that is not good for you. Like in the Jerk when everyone’s eyes got crossed, I’m thinking that might happen to you if you watch too much TV on the TV glasses. Cool item though. They also cost like 300 bucks. Not really worth it. Def one of those items that like 20 years ago or more you were like, “Dude, someday they are gonna have glasses that you put them on and you can watch TV.” Well that day has arrived my friends.
My final stop before getting my car was the Apple store. The place was packed. Apple is such a scam. You gotta love how they cornered the market in digital music. It still baffles my mind how they pulled that off. Then they did quite a number on the cellphone industry. Now they’ve got the ipad. I’m just not sure about this contraption. I checked it out. I was playing this game where you try to get the marble through the labyrinth. It was pretty stupid. Then I tried to play a racing game that didn’t work. I tried to use the keyboard which was an absolute waste of time. Trying to touchtype on the ipad is useless. It’s a mess. I type well and I couldn’t even type one word. You can’t rest your fingers on the keys, so You have no idea if you are even close to the home keys with your fingers hovering over the keyboard. It’s an exercise in futility. Typing texts on iphone is annoying, but on the Ipad, it’s just simply useless. I’m guessing the Ipad is trying to be a kindle on steroids. It was not light. I have to say it was prolly a pound. I’m guessing the kindle weighs like a quarter pound at most. I didn’t try to surf the net with it. I just got annoyed with it and bailed. It seemed like a giant Itouch/Iphone. If you have an Iphone, I don’t think you need an Ipad. Maybe other people have uses for them, I dunno. The people who worked in the store were carrying Ipads around like clipboards, I could see that. Maybe coaches and other clipboard holders (inventory people in a warehouse) will start using Ipads. That makes sense to me, it would allow them to track changes and write notes, juggle stuff around and surf porn. It all makes sense to me.
I know I had some other shopping adventures from Saturday, I just can’t remember what they were. One very strange thing over the weekend, A squirrel died right in front of my car. I was parked in the driveway, and there was a dead squirrel there. I didn’t run it over, it looked pretty normal, not flat, it was just dead. I’m thinking that maybe it fell out of a tree and broke its neck. Or it might have had a heart attack. Squirrels live a high stress life, they are always having to watch their nuts. So this morning was Garbage pickup, so I had to take a shovel and drop the squirrel in the can. I prolly should have said a few words, I mean words other than “oh geez, this is nasty. Oh my. I hope I don’t get rabies.” So yeah. The Squirrel is off to squirrel heaven and an unlimited supply of nuts. Lucky, Lucky, squirrel.
Friday, April 30, 2010
steve billens
Steve Billens
Lotsa crazy things afoot. I can’t complain. If I did, no one would care. Well…I guess I jumped the gun stating I was out of Bleach Battalion. Basically the next day Natassja from BB e-mailed me to see if I could play 4 dates in the next month. Hrm. Sounds like I’m in, and the band is back on. That is awesome news! BB has a few new tunes and I really dig em, they range from straight up Punk to a sorta Reggae Ska thing. I gotta practice the drums for sure. I think I can play them, but practice makes perfect. Yeah, as soon as I got the e-mail I was like, Oh crap, I better start practicing. So I went down and practiced. We have shows booked at The Box Social, which is some joint up by the Congress Theater. The dates are May 29 and June 12. I dunno what the deal is for June 12, but there are like 5 shows that day that I want to see. Bleach Battalion of course. Does that count? I won’t be seeing BB, I will be part of BB. That’s the ultimate concert experience. “Feel like you’re one with the band!” What else? I just saw that Concrete Blonde is doing a reunion tour where shockingly they will be playing Bloodletting in its entirety. I would’ve considered that if I wasn’t already occupied. On a side note, The Church, who I guess have some kind of awesome catalog of material (Under the Milky way and Reptile?) are messing with the format of playing your seminal album. They are playing one song off of each of their albums. I didn’t get it really, but I think UTMW and Reptile are on the same album. I’m not gonna chance that. The only Church song I like is Reptile. Back to June 12. Did I mention Bleach Battalion is playing at the Box Social? Must see for sure. Thrice is playing w/ Kevin Devine at HOB. I hate HOB. I’m not too bummed about missing that, although KD is playing with a band which prolly means he’ll be busting some classic Miracle of 86 stuff. Off With Their Heads is also playing at Subterranean. Then we’ve got Bottle Rockets at Ribfest, Bamboozle roadshow with a bunch of bands I’ve never heard of, and that’s basically it. I might try to catch OWTH after the BB show if I can, although I’ll be driving around w/ drums in my car that will be screaming to be stolen.
On a not so side note, do you guys know what a Box Social is? I just found this out. I feel enlightened. A Box Social is the opposite of a sausage fest: a place that is packed with women. I dunno if women ever say, “Let’s not go there, it’s a total Box Social.” I’m thinking not. I’m thinking it’s more guys saying, “Yeah bro, total Box Social, wink wink nudge nudge.” Still, important information for you urban slang challenged folks out there. Lotsa throwback shows coming that I have more than a passing interest to check out. Pink Floyd’s The Wall will be unbelievable. I think. It is being performed by Roger Waters and Ringo Starr and friends. I think Johnny Winters is playing guitar, Donald duck Dunn is playing bass, and Joe Satriani is helping out w/ lead guitar. I just made all that up in a sort of half-assed slam at the fact that Roger Waters is not Pink Floyd. But I’m sure it will sound as good or better than Pink Floyd ever did. RW should just change his name to Pink Floyd. That would totally mess up the song Have a cigar…or would it? The ultimate irony? Pointless questions? Other bands that are coming? Rush? Reo Speedwagon? Styx? Kansas? The Buzzcocks? I totally want to see The Buzzcocks. They are coming to double door. I gotta make that happen. I think it’s on a Sunday or something. I need more information. I have the information. That’s why the internet rules. Sunday, May 23 at Double Door. Then Monday, the Ponys are playing at the Pritzker Stage at Millenium park. Lots to do fo sho.
I really have a ton to say. I am drawing a blank. We are losing people at work left and right. It’s a bummer. I’m glad that they are moving on to greener pastures (hopefully), and it obviously solidifies the jobs of those that stay (read me), so that’s good too. The bummer is that I lost my buddy. His name is Dave. He’s from China. He is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met and I was trying to learn from him or hang with him so some of his intelligence would rub off. I don’t think it did. I was fascinated by the way he thinks in math. I think in words, that’s why I’m a bad writer and flailed through college and somehow came out with an English degree. Dave and I were in the options class together. When people had questions, I would try to answer them in common terms that all should be able to grasp. Well all didn’t always grasp them, so Dave would step in. He would go up to the blackboard and write down the equations, then he would explain the concept by how different variables affected the outcome of the equation. So for example, when time is in the denominator, and it increases, it makes the overall number smaller, so an increase in time causes a decrease in delta, or whatever. He would say, “Dis guy affects dis guy, and we can forget about dis guy.” Each piece was a “guy” I thought that was trippy. I didn’t know math was a bunch of little “guys” hanging around together. That’s what math is though, you can book it. Well I wish Dave well. He’s a smart mother. Before he came to our company he was working at Carnegie Mellon writing code to teach computers how to see. I shit you not. He’ll be ok. His real name is not Dave either. He just goes by that. His real name is Xuhui. I have no idea how to pronounce that. Dave is easier. Or maybe in China Xuhui sounds like Dave. I doubt it, but it’s fun to think about.
Oh well the work stories are flowing so why hassle it? When I started here, Compliance and Operational Risk shared an office. There were 6 people in there. We were a motley crew for sure. Well one woman, who was way talented was a contractor. Her contract expired and she left. Then Opererational risk moved out. That left 3. Then Compliance moved out. Then one of the guys from Compliance left. He was my bud from Michigan and he was an outdoorsman (still is I believe.) He left. Now one of the operational risk guys is leaving too. So there were six in the office, now there are 3 out of the office. Old times. Old spaces. Old disgraces (well not really). They are all moving on to greener pastures and the rest of us will pick up the pieces. Life goes on. It’s good to see that the economy is picking up, and that there are opportunities. 1 year ago, it was hold on to your job with a death grip. I guess the job market is loosening up.
There’s more, but I can’t think of anything. We’re all meeting for drinks tonight to say goodbye. That will be good. It was supposed to be drinks for 1 guy, but I think it will basically be for 3 now. Weird. Oh well. Keep on keepin on
Lotsa crazy things afoot. I can’t complain. If I did, no one would care. Well…I guess I jumped the gun stating I was out of Bleach Battalion. Basically the next day Natassja from BB e-mailed me to see if I could play 4 dates in the next month. Hrm. Sounds like I’m in, and the band is back on. That is awesome news! BB has a few new tunes and I really dig em, they range from straight up Punk to a sorta Reggae Ska thing. I gotta practice the drums for sure. I think I can play them, but practice makes perfect. Yeah, as soon as I got the e-mail I was like, Oh crap, I better start practicing. So I went down and practiced. We have shows booked at The Box Social, which is some joint up by the Congress Theater. The dates are May 29 and June 12. I dunno what the deal is for June 12, but there are like 5 shows that day that I want to see. Bleach Battalion of course. Does that count? I won’t be seeing BB, I will be part of BB. That’s the ultimate concert experience. “Feel like you’re one with the band!” What else? I just saw that Concrete Blonde is doing a reunion tour where shockingly they will be playing Bloodletting in its entirety. I would’ve considered that if I wasn’t already occupied. On a side note, The Church, who I guess have some kind of awesome catalog of material (Under the Milky way and Reptile?) are messing with the format of playing your seminal album. They are playing one song off of each of their albums. I didn’t get it really, but I think UTMW and Reptile are on the same album. I’m not gonna chance that. The only Church song I like is Reptile. Back to June 12. Did I mention Bleach Battalion is playing at the Box Social? Must see for sure. Thrice is playing w/ Kevin Devine at HOB. I hate HOB. I’m not too bummed about missing that, although KD is playing with a band which prolly means he’ll be busting some classic Miracle of 86 stuff. Off With Their Heads is also playing at Subterranean. Then we’ve got Bottle Rockets at Ribfest, Bamboozle roadshow with a bunch of bands I’ve never heard of, and that’s basically it. I might try to catch OWTH after the BB show if I can, although I’ll be driving around w/ drums in my car that will be screaming to be stolen.
On a not so side note, do you guys know what a Box Social is? I just found this out. I feel enlightened. A Box Social is the opposite of a sausage fest: a place that is packed with women. I dunno if women ever say, “Let’s not go there, it’s a total Box Social.” I’m thinking not. I’m thinking it’s more guys saying, “Yeah bro, total Box Social, wink wink nudge nudge.” Still, important information for you urban slang challenged folks out there. Lotsa throwback shows coming that I have more than a passing interest to check out. Pink Floyd’s The Wall will be unbelievable. I think. It is being performed by Roger Waters and Ringo Starr and friends. I think Johnny Winters is playing guitar, Donald duck Dunn is playing bass, and Joe Satriani is helping out w/ lead guitar. I just made all that up in a sort of half-assed slam at the fact that Roger Waters is not Pink Floyd. But I’m sure it will sound as good or better than Pink Floyd ever did. RW should just change his name to Pink Floyd. That would totally mess up the song Have a cigar…or would it? The ultimate irony? Pointless questions? Other bands that are coming? Rush? Reo Speedwagon? Styx? Kansas? The Buzzcocks? I totally want to see The Buzzcocks. They are coming to double door. I gotta make that happen. I think it’s on a Sunday or something. I need more information. I have the information. That’s why the internet rules. Sunday, May 23 at Double Door. Then Monday, the Ponys are playing at the Pritzker Stage at Millenium park. Lots to do fo sho.
I really have a ton to say. I am drawing a blank. We are losing people at work left and right. It’s a bummer. I’m glad that they are moving on to greener pastures (hopefully), and it obviously solidifies the jobs of those that stay (read me), so that’s good too. The bummer is that I lost my buddy. His name is Dave. He’s from China. He is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met and I was trying to learn from him or hang with him so some of his intelligence would rub off. I don’t think it did. I was fascinated by the way he thinks in math. I think in words, that’s why I’m a bad writer and flailed through college and somehow came out with an English degree. Dave and I were in the options class together. When people had questions, I would try to answer them in common terms that all should be able to grasp. Well all didn’t always grasp them, so Dave would step in. He would go up to the blackboard and write down the equations, then he would explain the concept by how different variables affected the outcome of the equation. So for example, when time is in the denominator, and it increases, it makes the overall number smaller, so an increase in time causes a decrease in delta, or whatever. He would say, “Dis guy affects dis guy, and we can forget about dis guy.” Each piece was a “guy” I thought that was trippy. I didn’t know math was a bunch of little “guys” hanging around together. That’s what math is though, you can book it. Well I wish Dave well. He’s a smart mother. Before he came to our company he was working at Carnegie Mellon writing code to teach computers how to see. I shit you not. He’ll be ok. His real name is not Dave either. He just goes by that. His real name is Xuhui. I have no idea how to pronounce that. Dave is easier. Or maybe in China Xuhui sounds like Dave. I doubt it, but it’s fun to think about.
Oh well the work stories are flowing so why hassle it? When I started here, Compliance and Operational Risk shared an office. There were 6 people in there. We were a motley crew for sure. Well one woman, who was way talented was a contractor. Her contract expired and she left. Then Opererational risk moved out. That left 3. Then Compliance moved out. Then one of the guys from Compliance left. He was my bud from Michigan and he was an outdoorsman (still is I believe.) He left. Now one of the operational risk guys is leaving too. So there were six in the office, now there are 3 out of the office. Old times. Old spaces. Old disgraces (well not really). They are all moving on to greener pastures and the rest of us will pick up the pieces. Life goes on. It’s good to see that the economy is picking up, and that there are opportunities. 1 year ago, it was hold on to your job with a death grip. I guess the job market is loosening up.
There’s more, but I can’t think of anything. We’re all meeting for drinks tonight to say goodbye. That will be good. It was supposed to be drinks for 1 guy, but I think it will basically be for 3 now. Weird. Oh well. Keep on keepin on
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
The metal
The best thing about being in a band is the drama. Seriously it’s better than a soap opera. Nothing against the people that I had the pleasure of jamming with, but it’s just a fact, it’s hard to get 4 people to play the same song the right way, let alone get 4 personalities to agree on issues outside of the music. So, with that, my tenure as drummer for Bleach Battalion is over. It just sounded like there were a lot of forces outside of the music that we couldn’t get over. Basically the band is one person, and she wrote all the songs, sings, and plays guitar. She can be backed by pretty much anyone, and that jams for her. She’s very talented and I hope she finds the right people, so that the band can move forward. I don’t really get the politics of it all, but it doesn’t matter. I just don’t think I was a good fit for the band. They really need someone who can represent the same way that they represent. I can play the songs, and enjoy playing the songs, but I don’t live the life. They live the life, and that means something special to them. I think they need a drummer who lives that life too and who can fight for the issues that the band espouses. Something like that. Anyway, I’m out of the band, and that’s ok. I’ve got plenty of other things to worry about right now. I still really like BB and the music. They said they’d keep me in mind for some of their other projects, so that’s cool. I’m glad that I was good enough to hang on a musical level, that was big for me. I haven’t played the drums in weeks though. I gotta get on that.
Big weekend. I love to break news and destroy a well kept secret, so here goes. I hit Old Town Social for the second time and it was just as jamming as the first time I hit it. If you haven’t been there, you gotta check it out. I really can’t remember a place that packed in the ladies like this. I don’t remember what crobar was like back in the day, or way before many of the people in my office were born, there was a place called Kaboom. Those places packed in the ladies, but not like OTS. The nice thing about OTS other than the ratio, which I have to put at about at least 1 to 1, is the fact that the women who do hang there are also very attractive. Double winner, lotsa women, and very hot women. That works. So my buddy and I are gonna start going there every night. That’s the thing about these places, you can’t go there all the time, you gotta pick your spots. So we prolly will only go there every other night. They have a jamming beer menu there too. Lotsa tasty brews to choose from. Although it’s not cheap, and I did try the food there and it wasn’t very good. I think restaurants can’t serve burgers medium anymore cuz some people got sick. Well my burger from OTS was way too well done. Not tasty. The plethora of babes def made up for it, and I washed the char down with some tasty beers. Not bad.
I did not go to the Dashboard Confessional show on my birthday. I just didn’t want to see the band as much as I just wanted my money back. Well getting my money back proved to be a difficult task. I dunno. I haven’t had to sell tix in a while, so I don’t think I was using common sense, and it didn’t help that the show started at 530. I did put 2 of the tix on CL. They sold for a good price and I made the connection there, which was one of my concerns. That left me with 2 tix. So there was nobody buying, I was trying to get more than the market would bear, and the market was non-existant, so that didn’t help. There were some dudes hanging around that didn’t look like DC fans. They were trying to buy some tickets so they could flip them back out. I was getting to the point where I just wanted to move on so I could meet my buddy for a beer on my Birthday. So I talk to one of the guys and he says he’ll give me 70. I say ok, basically get my money back. So he gives me a 100 dollar bill and I give him the tix and 30 bucks. I look at the 100 and immediately think that not only did I give my tickets away, but I paid somebody 30 to take them. It was phony. I shouldn’t be surprised, it looked weird. Didn’t feel like money, and looked like 2 pieces of paper glued together. My initial reaction was, this is fake, maybe someone else will take it. Then I’m like, no, I’m not gonna give away 100 bucks and hope to pass off a phony 100 on someone else. That’s bull. So I say to the guy. “This isn’t real man, give me my tickets back.” I thought for sure that the dude was gonna put up a fight. He was just like, “What are you talkin about?” I said, “This isn’t real man, it’s two pieces of paper glued together.” He’s like, “Alright let me talk to my guy over here.” He gave me back my tix, my money, and I gave him the phony 100. After that, I was done trying to deal with those guys. After about a half hour I came upon somebody legit looking for tix and sold them for 70. After that a bunch of people came around looking. I prolly could’ve gotten more than face, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to roll on.
I think I was talking about preconceived notions a couple of weeks ago. It’s funny how powerful they are. You look at something and you totally have it summed up for what you think it is, and then your expectations just get blown out of the water. My buddy and I went to another joint after OTS and there were some hot women there. I ended up talking to this girl who was off the charts nutty gorgeous. I mean picture the hottest swimsuit model you can think of. This girl’s body was like a Barbie doll. She was tall, had huge fake hooters, and a really tight bod all around. Why she was talking to me, I have no idea, but I wasn’t going to question it. Anyway, it turned out that she lived in Indiana, an hour east of South Bend. It’s like…ok. Although her body was a picture of feminine perfection, she was a total tomboy. She was nuts about animals. I think I mentioned a while back that I’m not really an animal lover. I like them, and I wish them well. Sometimes I eat them. That’s about it. Well this woman had horses. A few of them. And rented a barn somewhere to keep her animals. I tried to hold my own by saying that I care for my kids’ hamster, but I wasn’t getting very far with that. Especially when she came out and told me that she wanted a camel. Hrm. Ok. I think she said camels are really cool and chill, and that unlike horses, they don’t spook easy or something like that. I was willing to take her word for it. She said she can get a baby camel for like 4k. I was like, righteous bucks. Then she went on to tell me about her hairless pygmy cats. It sounded like she had a bunch of them running through her place. She said they stay like kittens their whole lives and I should look into them. I told her I would. I have it on my things to do list. Yeah, so safe to say this person was about as polar opposite as could be from what my preconceived notions of her were. She also had two kids, which was fine, but she didn’t look like she’d had kids, and she looked young for it. But who’s to say these days, it’s hard for me to judge age anyway, she could’ve been in her late 20s. Anyhoo. Gotta love preconceived notions. They are fun for sure.
I’ve got more stories, but I think that will do for now. I’ll try to be more regular with this thing soon.
Big weekend. I love to break news and destroy a well kept secret, so here goes. I hit Old Town Social for the second time and it was just as jamming as the first time I hit it. If you haven’t been there, you gotta check it out. I really can’t remember a place that packed in the ladies like this. I don’t remember what crobar was like back in the day, or way before many of the people in my office were born, there was a place called Kaboom. Those places packed in the ladies, but not like OTS. The nice thing about OTS other than the ratio, which I have to put at about at least 1 to 1, is the fact that the women who do hang there are also very attractive. Double winner, lotsa women, and very hot women. That works. So my buddy and I are gonna start going there every night. That’s the thing about these places, you can’t go there all the time, you gotta pick your spots. So we prolly will only go there every other night. They have a jamming beer menu there too. Lotsa tasty brews to choose from. Although it’s not cheap, and I did try the food there and it wasn’t very good. I think restaurants can’t serve burgers medium anymore cuz some people got sick. Well my burger from OTS was way too well done. Not tasty. The plethora of babes def made up for it, and I washed the char down with some tasty beers. Not bad.
I did not go to the Dashboard Confessional show on my birthday. I just didn’t want to see the band as much as I just wanted my money back. Well getting my money back proved to be a difficult task. I dunno. I haven’t had to sell tix in a while, so I don’t think I was using common sense, and it didn’t help that the show started at 530. I did put 2 of the tix on CL. They sold for a good price and I made the connection there, which was one of my concerns. That left me with 2 tix. So there was nobody buying, I was trying to get more than the market would bear, and the market was non-existant, so that didn’t help. There were some dudes hanging around that didn’t look like DC fans. They were trying to buy some tickets so they could flip them back out. I was getting to the point where I just wanted to move on so I could meet my buddy for a beer on my Birthday. So I talk to one of the guys and he says he’ll give me 70. I say ok, basically get my money back. So he gives me a 100 dollar bill and I give him the tix and 30 bucks. I look at the 100 and immediately think that not only did I give my tickets away, but I paid somebody 30 to take them. It was phony. I shouldn’t be surprised, it looked weird. Didn’t feel like money, and looked like 2 pieces of paper glued together. My initial reaction was, this is fake, maybe someone else will take it. Then I’m like, no, I’m not gonna give away 100 bucks and hope to pass off a phony 100 on someone else. That’s bull. So I say to the guy. “This isn’t real man, give me my tickets back.” I thought for sure that the dude was gonna put up a fight. He was just like, “What are you talkin about?” I said, “This isn’t real man, it’s two pieces of paper glued together.” He’s like, “Alright let me talk to my guy over here.” He gave me back my tix, my money, and I gave him the phony 100. After that, I was done trying to deal with those guys. After about a half hour I came upon somebody legit looking for tix and sold them for 70. After that a bunch of people came around looking. I prolly could’ve gotten more than face, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to roll on.
I think I was talking about preconceived notions a couple of weeks ago. It’s funny how powerful they are. You look at something and you totally have it summed up for what you think it is, and then your expectations just get blown out of the water. My buddy and I went to another joint after OTS and there were some hot women there. I ended up talking to this girl who was off the charts nutty gorgeous. I mean picture the hottest swimsuit model you can think of. This girl’s body was like a Barbie doll. She was tall, had huge fake hooters, and a really tight bod all around. Why she was talking to me, I have no idea, but I wasn’t going to question it. Anyway, it turned out that she lived in Indiana, an hour east of South Bend. It’s like…ok. Although her body was a picture of feminine perfection, she was a total tomboy. She was nuts about animals. I think I mentioned a while back that I’m not really an animal lover. I like them, and I wish them well. Sometimes I eat them. That’s about it. Well this woman had horses. A few of them. And rented a barn somewhere to keep her animals. I tried to hold my own by saying that I care for my kids’ hamster, but I wasn’t getting very far with that. Especially when she came out and told me that she wanted a camel. Hrm. Ok. I think she said camels are really cool and chill, and that unlike horses, they don’t spook easy or something like that. I was willing to take her word for it. She said she can get a baby camel for like 4k. I was like, righteous bucks. Then she went on to tell me about her hairless pygmy cats. It sounded like she had a bunch of them running through her place. She said they stay like kittens their whole lives and I should look into them. I told her I would. I have it on my things to do list. Yeah, so safe to say this person was about as polar opposite as could be from what my preconceived notions of her were. She also had two kids, which was fine, but she didn’t look like she’d had kids, and she looked young for it. But who’s to say these days, it’s hard for me to judge age anyway, she could’ve been in her late 20s. Anyhoo. Gotta love preconceived notions. They are fun for sure.
I’ve got more stories, but I think that will do for now. I’ll try to be more regular with this thing soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)