I’m going to go out on a limb here and make an observation. I have a feeling this observation may anger some of you, but I must state it for the record. Soccer does not rock. Call it Football, Futbol, or Fukudome, but I’m here to say, that not only does it lack rock, it’s on the boring side. I watched the US vs. England match and it was pretty good. Some drama in there, but the average match just is not doing it for me. Show me a home run. A squeeze play. A strike out. Show me a long bomb. A bone crunching tackle. A deft catch and slick move for a TD. A long run from the line of scrimmage. Show me a breakaway goal. Somebody getting slammed into the boards. Some guys dropping the gloves and pounding the poop out of each other. These things rock. Soccer imho does not rock. It’s like the ball goes out of bounds all the time. The team can’t control the ball and when the ball is in the air, a bunch of people are jumping at it. Corner kicks are just not that exciting. It seems like nothing ever comes of them and when the team scores from a corner, it’s kinda flukey. It’s sorta like the US goal against England, nobody scores unless it’s some kind of mistake. That’s boring. I see skill out there, guys make stupid moves and leave a guy with his jock on the field. Ok. Then a second later that guy loses the ball and it gets kicked clear to the other side. Boring. I just don’t get why this is the world’s sport. Is it because it’s so simple? That must be it. All you really need is a ball. The dudes are in good shape, that’s for sure. I can see why women would watch. To me it’s like the human equivalent of gnip gnop. A bunch of guys kick a ball for 90 minutes and once in a while it goes in. Whoever gets luckiest in the game wins. I was way geeked up for the world cup, mostly cuz I can watch it at work. I’m still fired up for the US. Maybe that’s the deal, you need to have your team who you just totally pull for. It helps. I gave a crap about the US v England match. I wanted to beat those smug bastards at their own game. Well actually Soccer isn’t their game, what is? Torture? What game did Britain ever invent? Croquet? Whatever. I hope I didn’t offend my Soccer loving readers. I know I have at least 1. I need some 5 to 1 games. There’s just not enough scoring. I mean you watch something for 2 hours and the final score is 0-0? 1-1? Oh well.
I felt like crap all weekend. I started this Barry’s bootcamp workout. You’re supposed to do it for 30 days, it’s like p90x for old people or something. It’s actually pretty hard though. I dunno what my deal is, I got food poisoning last week and I thought I had it kicked. Then I did this workout on Sat, it was heavy legs. Then I felt like poo the rest of the day. I did my Sunday workout even though I woke up feeling like crap. I felt ok most of the day Sunday, but not 100%. There was no way I was gonna get up this morning and do it. Eff that. I took the day off. My legs were too sore. They still are. I hate that. The soreness when you just get back to working your legs is the worst, it’s the incentive to keep working them to avoid having the soreness again.
Yeah, so my weekend was pretty messed. I was having an ok day Friday, well not really. I was bummed and I don’t know why. I guess I just had a crappy day or maybe it was because I have this mystery illness. Anyway, I was looking for something to cheer me up. I went on emusic and was doing crappy busywork to redownload some stuff into itunes. Annoying crap that should be easy. I get to the Methadones, and I was like “Eureka.” I had a feeling that maybe the Methadones were gonna do a show before they go to Baltimore. Sort of a tune up. I go on the myspace page and I see the blog entry, “RIP Methadones 2000-2010.” They’re breaking up. Total bullshit. I should have known better, I was having a bad day; I should’ve waited and checked out the website another time. If you are asking yourself if I cosmically caused the Methadones to break up, the answer is yes. I’m joking. It still sucks though. I guess they are gonna do a last show sometime in Chicago and that should be pretty nuts and maybe they’ll play for like 3 hours, so I have that to look forward to.
I don’t want to take it personally, but my last crazy favorite new band also broke up. The Long Blondes. When I heard them, I was like, “OMG these guys are the next big thing.” I told everyone I knew that The Long Blondes were gonna be huge, and that they would be playing stadiums in the states someday. I loved them. Their first (basically) album, “Someone to drive you home.” Was on crazy heavy rotation for me. I was geeked when they released their second album. It was sort of a departure for them and they went with some quirky producer on it. Well it kinda sucked. No worries. They had many records to come. Plus, now they would tour. And tour they did. They came to the US. They were booked at Logan Square Auditorium. I got my tix in the presale. This thing was for sure gonna sell out. I don’t care if Rilo Kiley was playing that night, it doesn’t matter, The Long Blondes were coming to Chicago! I got to the show early, so I didn’t have to fight through the crowd. We walked right in. Not many people milling about. That’s cool. It was early. We went upstairs. Went straight to the bar, got a beer. Good call, get a buzz on before the line is too long to bother getting a beer. The opener came out. The place was basically empty. Just like 50-60 people when the place fit like 800. No worries, it’s smart to wait til after the opener to show up. It’s not so smart to wait til after the headliner is done though. Nobody showed up. Maybe like 100 people. I was shocked. The show was awesome, and I wasn’t really bummed that no one was there, so much as surprised. Well, two or three months later, the guitarist had a stroke or something and the band broke up. I don’t feel responsible for that one either.
The good news. Oh yeah, the good news. I knew there was good news. So when a band leaves you and goes to rock and roll Valhalla, a new band always comes to take its place. Last night I was going through the acts scheduled to play at Lollapalooza. Bands that I’ve heard of, but never heard. I went through a couple that kinda sucked. Then I stumbled upon…Hockey. I’m a fan. They’re sort of a strokes meets MGMT kind of thing. I don’t know if that is a fair assessment, but I’m a fan. The only problem, not on emusic. That’s a bummer. I guess I gotta breakdown and go to itunes, or…, dare I say it?...go to a music store and buy the cd. What an ancient concept, go to a music store, to buy a cd. What a lameass idea.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
I can't win for losin
Aweeeeeeee. Did you miss me? No? Screw you then. J/k, much love to the three of you. Where to begin. There is way too much to say. I made it out to Pritzker pavilion yesterday. First time ever. Some peeps from work said that some blues guitar guy was gonna be out there and invited me to come along during lunch. Good call. Great weather. The music was alright, it was blues, solid, good musicians. The guy’s name was chainsaw Murphy or something. He was pretty good. He’d say, “I’m gonna play the blues for you now, like my mama told me to.” I wish my mama told me to play the blues. Maybe she did, I just wasn’t listening. “Jimmy, play your blues.” “Naw, I’m gonna go ride my skateboard and listen to punk rock.” She wouldn’t let me get a skateboard. That’s how I ended up this way. Pritzker was cool though. The sound was pretty awesome, I wish I would’ve caught that hum show. I’m wondering if they will use Pritzker at all for Lollapalooza. I’m hoping. They issued the lineup for lolla, well the schedule. Some tough conflicts like always. I kinda had hoped to see Lady Gaga. I guess I don’t mind her music and would like to see her production. Won’t happen though, I’d much rather see the strokes. I saw them at HFStival in DC, and they were prolly the highlight. I dunno much about Phoenix, other than it will prolly be an intimate gathering when they go up against Green Day on Sat night. I could be wrong though. Sunday is a bummer as Soundgarden goes up against Arcade Fire. There are a bunch of other minor conflicts, but there always are. Life is about choices.
And now for something completely different. I was reading the Gartman letter yesterday and he had a bit about how some youth soccer league in Canada has added a rule. It’s a rule to control scoring and avoid lopsided games that demoralize one team. This rule is that if you win by more than 5 goals, you lose. Gartman is a right winger, and he went nuts about this new rule. A lot of people flew off the handle and said “well the game will just flip, the bad team will try to score on themselves to insure victory and the good team will try to defend the bad team’s own goal.” Hence, nothing really changes. Reactionary rhetoric. I think in reality what they are trying to do is say, “when you have a comfortable lead, like 3 goals, put in your b team and call off the dogs.” There’s probably a better way to do it than to say “if you’re too good, instead of winning, you lose.” I’m reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand right now, and I’m sure she’s spinning like crazy over this one. Penalize the over-achievers and reward the under-achievers, the basic premise of the whole book is how this is pure evil. I’m only like .25 through the book, but I don’t think it holds a candle to The Fountainhead. Maybe I need to reread the Fountainhead and that’s not very good either. This book is basically propaganda and every character is a caricature designed to embody some political viewpoint. It’s kind of annoying. I guess it’s ok. I’m still reading, it’s engaging, well-written, and the characters are well-developed even if they are a bit cartoonish.
The subject I really wanted to talk about today is… bums. I’ve seen some interesting bums lately. I don’t think it’s funny that these people are down on their luck, but I guess I’m just wondering what their deals are. Kinda like everyone I see. Seriously, I do wonder what everyone’s deal is. Some people I can just guess, typical suburban dude, trying too hard to look cool, probably doesn’t make as much money as he wants people to think he does, etc. Those people are boring. I wanna know what the PDA couple’s deal is, the physically challenged guy, and bums. For now. So today I’m walking to work and I walk by a mcdonalds. Right there by the door, there was a pile of newspapers and a bum sleeping next to them. Then it dawned on me, he was a newspaper salesman. I have to say that sleeping next to the pile of papers you are trying to sell probably isn’t gonna move you up the corporate chain, he did look content though. Oops, I didn’t mean to imply he was a bum, sorry, he was a newspaper salesman. Do you guys like to lamp? I know I do. When I see somebody lampin, like steady lampin, I gotta give props. So I’m walking to work the other day. It’s like 730am. I’m just getting over being very sick. And I see a guy, a bum, sitting on the steps of a business, hot tix type of ticket business that wasn’t open. The guy was lampin. He was sitting there. He didn’t look happy and he didn’t look sad. He had an undefinable ethnicity, maybe Caucasian, maybe Latin American, he had a beard, long hair w/ receding hairline, salt and pepper, undefinable age, maybe 40s-60s. This bum was sitting there, at 730 am, drinking a half pint of vodka. The bottle had like 2 ounces left maybe. This was a textbook, dictionary definition, postcard, quintessential bum. And he was lampin.
And now for something completely different. I was reading the Gartman letter yesterday and he had a bit about how some youth soccer league in Canada has added a rule. It’s a rule to control scoring and avoid lopsided games that demoralize one team. This rule is that if you win by more than 5 goals, you lose. Gartman is a right winger, and he went nuts about this new rule. A lot of people flew off the handle and said “well the game will just flip, the bad team will try to score on themselves to insure victory and the good team will try to defend the bad team’s own goal.” Hence, nothing really changes. Reactionary rhetoric. I think in reality what they are trying to do is say, “when you have a comfortable lead, like 3 goals, put in your b team and call off the dogs.” There’s probably a better way to do it than to say “if you’re too good, instead of winning, you lose.” I’m reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand right now, and I’m sure she’s spinning like crazy over this one. Penalize the over-achievers and reward the under-achievers, the basic premise of the whole book is how this is pure evil. I’m only like .25 through the book, but I don’t think it holds a candle to The Fountainhead. Maybe I need to reread the Fountainhead and that’s not very good either. This book is basically propaganda and every character is a caricature designed to embody some political viewpoint. It’s kind of annoying. I guess it’s ok. I’m still reading, it’s engaging, well-written, and the characters are well-developed even if they are a bit cartoonish.
The subject I really wanted to talk about today is… bums. I’ve seen some interesting bums lately. I don’t think it’s funny that these people are down on their luck, but I guess I’m just wondering what their deals are. Kinda like everyone I see. Seriously, I do wonder what everyone’s deal is. Some people I can just guess, typical suburban dude, trying too hard to look cool, probably doesn’t make as much money as he wants people to think he does, etc. Those people are boring. I wanna know what the PDA couple’s deal is, the physically challenged guy, and bums. For now. So today I’m walking to work and I walk by a mcdonalds. Right there by the door, there was a pile of newspapers and a bum sleeping next to them. Then it dawned on me, he was a newspaper salesman. I have to say that sleeping next to the pile of papers you are trying to sell probably isn’t gonna move you up the corporate chain, he did look content though. Oops, I didn’t mean to imply he was a bum, sorry, he was a newspaper salesman. Do you guys like to lamp? I know I do. When I see somebody lampin, like steady lampin, I gotta give props. So I’m walking to work the other day. It’s like 730am. I’m just getting over being very sick. And I see a guy, a bum, sitting on the steps of a business, hot tix type of ticket business that wasn’t open. The guy was lampin. He was sitting there. He didn’t look happy and he didn’t look sad. He had an undefinable ethnicity, maybe Caucasian, maybe Latin American, he had a beard, long hair w/ receding hairline, salt and pepper, undefinable age, maybe 40s-60s. This bum was sitting there, at 730 am, drinking a half pint of vodka. The bottle had like 2 ounces left maybe. This was a textbook, dictionary definition, postcard, quintessential bum. And he was lampin.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Fulfillment
They call me prolific
I’ve been churning out blogs lately and I’m not sure why. I am not good at letting things go, but I have to let this Hum miss go. The problem is that I really wanted to see a show at Pritzker Pavilion cuz it has has those crazy speakers suspended above it, and I figured that a rock show would sound really awesome there. Well HUM is Rock! And I like them. Plus they are kind of spacey and atmospheric and I figure that would best demonstrate the sonic capabilities of the venue. Hence my inability to move on from the miss. There are some other shows coming there that I’m def not as hyped about, but I’ll prolly check one or more of them. I also wanna bring the kids over there cuz it’s free family entertainment. I think they would dig just hanging out in the field with all the speakers, and playing catch or something. That’s my plan anyway. That was the plan for Monday, but the Hawks game got in the way. Bummer that the Hawks didn’t win last night cuz they would’ve had a stranglehold on the Stanley Cup, and now I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous.
On to train misfits. I shouldn’t say the guy is a misfit, because even though he uses a walker and wears Velcro shoes, he might be like the coolest guy ever underneath the façade. I came to an interesting conclusion today. I think yesterday I was wondering what stop the guy gets on at. Well as luck would have it, he gets on at my stop. He gets in at the front car, probably to limit the amount of walking he has to do from the train to the station upon arrival. Today I got to experience his ascension up into the train. I have to admit, I was a little jealous that he got to ride the crane and I didn’t. I was also a little annoyed about waiting, cuz when they bring the lift down, it blocks off one entry so basically all the people have to cram into the other entrance. I hate the inefficiency and get annoyed when I’m bottlenecked like that. I got over it though. I didn’t see where the guy went to sit, but I’m thinking I might have to sit down with him and find out what his deal is. I know, I know that I still need to find out what the PDA couple’s deal is, but maybe I need to work my way up to that. I think I need to find out what this guy’s deal is, and here’s why. I don’t think he has cerebral palsy, so now I’m def intrigued as to how he lost the use of his legs, or why his leg use is severely limited. I also wanna know what he does for a living, where he lives and if he’s ever had sex. I’m a little hesitant about how to approach this guy. At least with the PDA couple, I could just admit that I am curious. With this guy though, I don’t want to come off as using him. Like get to know him just for the story and then blow him off. Which is probably about how it will go. I think that’s hurtful, so I’m def hesitant to do it. I’m sure the guy would appreciate the company, who knows, he’s probably a heck of a guy. To be continued…
I dunno what it is about miscreants and train stations; maybe it’s just the cattle call nature of it all. It’s like we’re all cattle shuffling off to our various pens or whatever. So when we’re all making our way, certain people look normal, and others stand out. Today I saw a couple at the train station in the basement of our building. It was a random dorkish balding dude and he was helping a woman (his wife?) make her way to the station and she definitely had some kind of ambulation issue, i.e. she walked funny. So she had some kind of issue and needed this dude’s (husband’s) assistance to get where she was going. They looked fairly odd, typical bizarre fashion and sheltered appearance, like they don’t get out much, except to go to work. I don’t remember what my initial thought was on them, other than that I’ve seen them before, but I guess I thought “there’s a nice couple.” One of the things that crossed my mind was that they looked like they were well matched, but that’s almost not accurate. I definitely thought that it appeared to be a situation that you see all too often. A guy who is basically normal, but has somehow been forced to choose a less than ideal woman because that’s the best he could do. Or maybe not the best he could do, but he’s such a wuss that he can’t do any better, and “what the heck, Shirley ain’t all bad, or she was the first woman to say hi to me” or something. Then I thought maybe old Shirley is wild in the sack. Stranger things have happened. Maybe dude has that little smirk on his face cuz he knows people are thinking “what’s he doing with her?” and he also knows that they have a great time in the apartment every night and most people stumble through life without real sexual fulfillment. Whoah, can of worms. Did I just say that? Sexual fulfillment? Wow. What a subject. That’s one for another day. I’m gonna have to do some research on that one. I’m gonna leave these two alone and simply consider them the most sexually fulfilled couple in the train station. The PDA couple will be the couple most likely to achieve sexual fulfillment on the train. Go out there and find sexual fulfillment.
I’ve been churning out blogs lately and I’m not sure why. I am not good at letting things go, but I have to let this Hum miss go. The problem is that I really wanted to see a show at Pritzker Pavilion cuz it has has those crazy speakers suspended above it, and I figured that a rock show would sound really awesome there. Well HUM is Rock! And I like them. Plus they are kind of spacey and atmospheric and I figure that would best demonstrate the sonic capabilities of the venue. Hence my inability to move on from the miss. There are some other shows coming there that I’m def not as hyped about, but I’ll prolly check one or more of them. I also wanna bring the kids over there cuz it’s free family entertainment. I think they would dig just hanging out in the field with all the speakers, and playing catch or something. That’s my plan anyway. That was the plan for Monday, but the Hawks game got in the way. Bummer that the Hawks didn’t win last night cuz they would’ve had a stranglehold on the Stanley Cup, and now I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous.
On to train misfits. I shouldn’t say the guy is a misfit, because even though he uses a walker and wears Velcro shoes, he might be like the coolest guy ever underneath the façade. I came to an interesting conclusion today. I think yesterday I was wondering what stop the guy gets on at. Well as luck would have it, he gets on at my stop. He gets in at the front car, probably to limit the amount of walking he has to do from the train to the station upon arrival. Today I got to experience his ascension up into the train. I have to admit, I was a little jealous that he got to ride the crane and I didn’t. I was also a little annoyed about waiting, cuz when they bring the lift down, it blocks off one entry so basically all the people have to cram into the other entrance. I hate the inefficiency and get annoyed when I’m bottlenecked like that. I got over it though. I didn’t see where the guy went to sit, but I’m thinking I might have to sit down with him and find out what his deal is. I know, I know that I still need to find out what the PDA couple’s deal is, but maybe I need to work my way up to that. I think I need to find out what this guy’s deal is, and here’s why. I don’t think he has cerebral palsy, so now I’m def intrigued as to how he lost the use of his legs, or why his leg use is severely limited. I also wanna know what he does for a living, where he lives and if he’s ever had sex. I’m a little hesitant about how to approach this guy. At least with the PDA couple, I could just admit that I am curious. With this guy though, I don’t want to come off as using him. Like get to know him just for the story and then blow him off. Which is probably about how it will go. I think that’s hurtful, so I’m def hesitant to do it. I’m sure the guy would appreciate the company, who knows, he’s probably a heck of a guy. To be continued…
I dunno what it is about miscreants and train stations; maybe it’s just the cattle call nature of it all. It’s like we’re all cattle shuffling off to our various pens or whatever. So when we’re all making our way, certain people look normal, and others stand out. Today I saw a couple at the train station in the basement of our building. It was a random dorkish balding dude and he was helping a woman (his wife?) make her way to the station and she definitely had some kind of ambulation issue, i.e. she walked funny. So she had some kind of issue and needed this dude’s (husband’s) assistance to get where she was going. They looked fairly odd, typical bizarre fashion and sheltered appearance, like they don’t get out much, except to go to work. I don’t remember what my initial thought was on them, other than that I’ve seen them before, but I guess I thought “there’s a nice couple.” One of the things that crossed my mind was that they looked like they were well matched, but that’s almost not accurate. I definitely thought that it appeared to be a situation that you see all too often. A guy who is basically normal, but has somehow been forced to choose a less than ideal woman because that’s the best he could do. Or maybe not the best he could do, but he’s such a wuss that he can’t do any better, and “what the heck, Shirley ain’t all bad, or she was the first woman to say hi to me” or something. Then I thought maybe old Shirley is wild in the sack. Stranger things have happened. Maybe dude has that little smirk on his face cuz he knows people are thinking “what’s he doing with her?” and he also knows that they have a great time in the apartment every night and most people stumble through life without real sexual fulfillment. Whoah, can of worms. Did I just say that? Sexual fulfillment? Wow. What a subject. That’s one for another day. I’m gonna have to do some research on that one. I’m gonna leave these two alone and simply consider them the most sexually fulfilled couple in the train station. The PDA couple will be the couple most likely to achieve sexual fulfillment on the train. Go out there and find sexual fulfillment.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Polarization
It’s easiest to write when you are feeling something. I think that is what people call inspiration. Well right now I’m feeling a little guilty. I was at lunch and we were talking about facebook. The people at work are really smart and they went to Ivy League schools and are interested in intellectual pursuits. So one guy says, “I’m friends with some of my high school teachers.” To which a girl replies, “oh that’s kind of cool.” To which I replied, “No it isn’t.” The girl proceeded to say that it was or something, and I said, “Well you guys are nerds, so I guess it is cool for you.” The thing is, I thought the fact that they were nerds was kind of a given, like I’m bald, I’m old, they’re nerds. Now I’m starting to think that maybe they didn’t consider themselves nerds. I thought being a nerd was cool right now. But seriously, I think this should be included in the definition of nerd. If you have a relationship with a teacher that lasts beyond when you are in that teacher’s class, you’re a nerd. I guess it kinda poops on teachers though cuz that says that teachers don’t form any lasting relationships with their students. Actually they do though, they form lasting relationships with nerds.
I kid because I care. I know people who still talk to their grade school teachers, which isn’t nerddom, it’s just plain creepy. I dunno. I’ve always been respectful of the teacher-student dynamic. They teach. I don’t pay attention. The bell rings, I leave. I guess when it comes down to it, teachers are nerds. Aren’t they? Even the coolest teacher is a nerd, I’m pretty sure on that. I dunno, teachers put it out there, and that usually opens you up to be criticized and judged. You can’t pull your same jokes, your same lines, the same gestures or whatever, and not be categorized. Whatever, I think teaching would be cool. I guess I would just have to accept that some people might consider me a nerd. You can’t really do anything about what other people think of you anyway, other than wear your underwear under your clothes instead of the other way around.
I was gonna talk about this train person anyway, I don’t know if I would categorize him as a nerd, but I was thinking about him today. The guy is prolly 42 or something, and he has cerebral palsy and needs a walker. They need to get that crazy ramp thing happening for him just so he can get on and off the train. Every morning, as I’m walking off the train platform, I see this guy, resplendent, descending from above. Let me get this straight, I’m not making fun of him, like I said, I don’t know if he’s a nerd. I don’t know anything about him. Other than his condition causes him to be extremely slow moving. The amazing thing about this guy is that, well one, he has a job, I’m guessing cuz he rides the train every day. I wonder what he does. I wonder how long it takes him just to get out of the train station. It must take like 20 minutes. I wonder what he feels like when the people are all hustling and bustling around him. Then, they’re all gone, it must be peaceful when all the people are gone. I bet each step is like a little victory for this guy. The other amazing thing is the perseverance he displays on a daily basis. I mean he could just sit in his bed, watch tv, collect public aid, and no one would judge him for it. But he gets up, he might have help, if not, it must take 2 hours just to get ready to go out. Then He gets to the train. I think you get the picture that everything this guy does must be agonizing. Or at least take a long time. I guess it prolly helps him to have a purpose though, and to feel like he’s contributing.
It’s hard to play that game that people play where you say, well, imagine if you were in his shoes. Seriously, if I was in that walker train guy’s shoes, I might be way happier than I am now. Who knows. People assume that just because you can walk normally and are not physically disfigured, that you’re happier than someone who is. Why do people jump to that conclusion? It’s like a priest or a nun, people wonder how they could give everything up like that. Think about how simple a life that would be. How wonderful it would be to have no (or few) possessions, to help others, to pray, to pursue intellectual interests (nerds), and to not have to worry about money. It would be kinda nice. You could say the same of the walker guy, expectations are lower due to his condition, therefore, he probably has a higher sense of achievement than someone who has full use of his/her appendages. Who knows. Happiness comes from within, I know that’s a cliché, but it’s true, money might make some people happy, for others, it creates more problems. Some rich people are miserable, and some poor people are ecstatic. (well maybe not ecstatic, but you never know.) I feel like I’m doing a very poor job of expressing this idea. I might have to revisit it another time.
I kid because I care. I know people who still talk to their grade school teachers, which isn’t nerddom, it’s just plain creepy. I dunno. I’ve always been respectful of the teacher-student dynamic. They teach. I don’t pay attention. The bell rings, I leave. I guess when it comes down to it, teachers are nerds. Aren’t they? Even the coolest teacher is a nerd, I’m pretty sure on that. I dunno, teachers put it out there, and that usually opens you up to be criticized and judged. You can’t pull your same jokes, your same lines, the same gestures or whatever, and not be categorized. Whatever, I think teaching would be cool. I guess I would just have to accept that some people might consider me a nerd. You can’t really do anything about what other people think of you anyway, other than wear your underwear under your clothes instead of the other way around.
I was gonna talk about this train person anyway, I don’t know if I would categorize him as a nerd, but I was thinking about him today. The guy is prolly 42 or something, and he has cerebral palsy and needs a walker. They need to get that crazy ramp thing happening for him just so he can get on and off the train. Every morning, as I’m walking off the train platform, I see this guy, resplendent, descending from above. Let me get this straight, I’m not making fun of him, like I said, I don’t know if he’s a nerd. I don’t know anything about him. Other than his condition causes him to be extremely slow moving. The amazing thing about this guy is that, well one, he has a job, I’m guessing cuz he rides the train every day. I wonder what he does. I wonder how long it takes him just to get out of the train station. It must take like 20 minutes. I wonder what he feels like when the people are all hustling and bustling around him. Then, they’re all gone, it must be peaceful when all the people are gone. I bet each step is like a little victory for this guy. The other amazing thing is the perseverance he displays on a daily basis. I mean he could just sit in his bed, watch tv, collect public aid, and no one would judge him for it. But he gets up, he might have help, if not, it must take 2 hours just to get ready to go out. Then He gets to the train. I think you get the picture that everything this guy does must be agonizing. Or at least take a long time. I guess it prolly helps him to have a purpose though, and to feel like he’s contributing.
It’s hard to play that game that people play where you say, well, imagine if you were in his shoes. Seriously, if I was in that walker train guy’s shoes, I might be way happier than I am now. Who knows. People assume that just because you can walk normally and are not physically disfigured, that you’re happier than someone who is. Why do people jump to that conclusion? It’s like a priest or a nun, people wonder how they could give everything up like that. Think about how simple a life that would be. How wonderful it would be to have no (or few) possessions, to help others, to pray, to pursue intellectual interests (nerds), and to not have to worry about money. It would be kinda nice. You could say the same of the walker guy, expectations are lower due to his condition, therefore, he probably has a higher sense of achievement than someone who has full use of his/her appendages. Who knows. Happiness comes from within, I know that’s a cliché, but it’s true, money might make some people happy, for others, it creates more problems. Some rich people are miserable, and some poor people are ecstatic. (well maybe not ecstatic, but you never know.) I feel like I’m doing a very poor job of expressing this idea. I might have to revisit it another time.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Pooptown
What a weekend. What do they say about the best laid plans? They often go awry? Well they do. I had a lot of stuff planned for the weekend. I was really looking forward to it. Some of the plans fell through due to unfortunate circumstances, but stuff happens, it’s all good. Well it wasn’t good, but there’s always another day. I think. Back to the weekend, so I was kinda planning to check out Noise by Numbers in the afternoon show. That didn’t happen. My buddy and some folks were going to Arlington for the horse races, so I met up with them. I was half tempted to go to the races and then roll to the show, then catch some of the blackhawks. Well, after a couple of hours at the races, I was down 60 bucks and I didn’t hit one bet. I guess you could call it a semi hit, or just a bad miss, but I hit a trifecta and didn’t box it, so I picked the top 3 horses, but in the wrong order. I don’t think I would’ve made much on it though, I think it paid like $25, so If my bet would’ve hit, I would’ve made maybe 100. Not chump change, but sometimes if you miss a trifecta it will cost you like 1000 bucks. My buddy made 600. It was kinda funny. Everybody else bailed and it was just me and my buddy. My bud was like, “I can’t believe they bailed before the 9th race, their friend has a horse it it.” The horse was going off at like 35 to 1. I was like, “we gotta bet the horse big and then rub it in their faces if he wins.” So we stayed for the 9th race and bet the horse, Mad Flatter. Well my buddy went to the betting machine and he put his tickets in there that he thought were worthless. Well he hit a bet for 85 bucks. Instead of cashing it in, he rolled the whole amount into the next race. He upped all his bets and added a few too. One of them was a $5 exacta box. He hit the exacta. It paid off like $587. Rock on. Good day. He cashed in and we bailed.
My buddy was kind enough to treat us to some burger king with the winnings and that ended up being the worst move of the day. We kept burping it back up and that put a definite damper on the evening cuz it’s hard to go out on the town and have fun with a gurpy tummy. We did our best though. So we cruised back to his place and watched the Blackhawks. What an awesome game. Talk about rock-em sock-em, back and forth, goal after goal. That game was a must win, the loser of that game was demoralized, which played out as the flyers lost the next game as well. The Hawks are in command and I hope they take it home. They have been playing well on the road, so they gotta take one of two and then it would be nice to finish it at home. We’ll see.
Yeah, so I bailed on Noise by Numbers and that was kind of a bummer cuz I def wanted to go to it. Then on Sunday I didn’t do much. I went into work, which is always a good time. Got some things done. It was so quiet. Very good environment to think. I also took a walk along the lake on Sunday. That was kick ass. There were a lot of people out and most of them were wearing very little clothing. Good times.
On Monday, I had this plan to bring the kids downtown. I wanted to show them my work, I also wanted to go check out HUM at Pritzker Pavilion. Well I didn’t make it to the show. I have been talking about the show for weeks. It has been on my calendar with a special check mark next to it, I totally have been geeked about it. Well, sometimes it just doesn’t work out. I was trying to make everyone happy, which meant that I was trying to line up some way for the boys to watch the Hawks game so I could see the show. When it came down to it, I was the only one who wanted to go, and I was trying to make it happen for selfish reasons. Sometimes when you are a parent, you have to give certain things up, certain things that you really want. This was one of those times. So we stayed home. We ended up getting a football game together with the cousins, which was really good. I think everyone scored a touchdown and although the game ended on a questionable play, and the outcome is undetermined due to a pending league ruling, I think everyone had fun. It was nice to get out and run around. Then we all saddled in to watch the Hawks. As previously mentioned, they won, and are in the driver’s seat for the Stanley cup. We’ll see how it plays out.
As far as shows go, there are still a bunch of good shows coming up. The thing I have on my calendar is a street fest on June 13. The Arrivals are playing and Pegboy. Street fests are a good time, so I’m looking forward to this one. Should be a blast. I’m sure something will come up to derail it, but that’s life.
My buddy was kind enough to treat us to some burger king with the winnings and that ended up being the worst move of the day. We kept burping it back up and that put a definite damper on the evening cuz it’s hard to go out on the town and have fun with a gurpy tummy. We did our best though. So we cruised back to his place and watched the Blackhawks. What an awesome game. Talk about rock-em sock-em, back and forth, goal after goal. That game was a must win, the loser of that game was demoralized, which played out as the flyers lost the next game as well. The Hawks are in command and I hope they take it home. They have been playing well on the road, so they gotta take one of two and then it would be nice to finish it at home. We’ll see.
Yeah, so I bailed on Noise by Numbers and that was kind of a bummer cuz I def wanted to go to it. Then on Sunday I didn’t do much. I went into work, which is always a good time. Got some things done. It was so quiet. Very good environment to think. I also took a walk along the lake on Sunday. That was kick ass. There were a lot of people out and most of them were wearing very little clothing. Good times.
On Monday, I had this plan to bring the kids downtown. I wanted to show them my work, I also wanted to go check out HUM at Pritzker Pavilion. Well I didn’t make it to the show. I have been talking about the show for weeks. It has been on my calendar with a special check mark next to it, I totally have been geeked about it. Well, sometimes it just doesn’t work out. I was trying to make everyone happy, which meant that I was trying to line up some way for the boys to watch the Hawks game so I could see the show. When it came down to it, I was the only one who wanted to go, and I was trying to make it happen for selfish reasons. Sometimes when you are a parent, you have to give certain things up, certain things that you really want. This was one of those times. So we stayed home. We ended up getting a football game together with the cousins, which was really good. I think everyone scored a touchdown and although the game ended on a questionable play, and the outcome is undetermined due to a pending league ruling, I think everyone had fun. It was nice to get out and run around. Then we all saddled in to watch the Hawks. As previously mentioned, they won, and are in the driver’s seat for the Stanley cup. We’ll see how it plays out.
As far as shows go, there are still a bunch of good shows coming up. The thing I have on my calendar is a street fest on June 13. The Arrivals are playing and Pegboy. Street fests are a good time, so I’m looking forward to this one. Should be a blast. I’m sure something will come up to derail it, but that’s life.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Running is dumb
It’s kinda funny when logic fails. Like yesterday. I ran in the corporate challenge. It’s a 3.5 mile race and I trained a little. My goal was to run it in 35 mins. Def to break 40. Before the race our team from the office was all hanging out. Someone said, “I ran it last year, and you should just start out up front. Don’t worry about starting with the right group.” Well I dunno, I usually follow the rules. The rules of this race include setting up the start so that the people up front are the ones that plan to run the fastest, and the people in back are the ones planning to walk or whatever. They had sections set up for different paces. Well I did not heed the warning of the person and figured I would start with the 10 minute mile people, which is roughly the pace I was looking for. I’m guessing about 30,000 people were running in this thing. I could be wrong. So there were prolly 10,000 people in front of me. I just assumed that over the course things would spread out and I would be able to run my pace. Not so much. By starting so far back, I was running into group after group of walker, slow people, random idiots, etc. Running the race at my pace was basically impossible. At one point I was seriously gonna yell out, “Run, you Motherfuckers!!!!!! Or get out of the way!!!!!!!!” Then I thought, I’m wearing a shirt with my company’s name on it. One of these motherfuckers would probably call, or worse, I’d get into a fight and be on the front page. But for me, to be so aggravated as to even consider shouting something out in a crowd, should be enough to indicate what an absolute annoyance running in this race proved to be. I thought I was running a good race anyway. I was keeping a faster pace than training and although I was cramping up quite a bit, I managed to run through it. I really thought I ran the race in about 35 minutes. And if there were about 1/10th the people, I prolly would’ve. I ran it in 41. I have to live with that. I’m def gonna run in another 5k, just to put up a respectable time. So yeah, about the logic failing, I thought that 3.5 miles would be plenty for the whole group to stretch out and I’d be able to run my race. Not so much, I should’ve listened to someone with experience and started up front.
I’m starting to think the PDA people are having an affair. There really is no other explanation. I saw them today; they were in a different car. I was reading my book, so I got off the train after everyone had left. Then I saw them smooching in the other section of the train car. If they aren’t having an affair, if they are married and live together, then there is something psychologically wrong with them. If they are married, and they just can’t keep their hands off of each other at any waking moment, that’s unhealthy. The question that stands out above all others is…Is it love? Or is it Lust? I’m thinking lust at this point. To me, Love is more subtle, less demonstrative. When I think of love I think of an understanding that does not need to be spoken. When I think of lust I think of physical desire that cannot be controlled. I think of doing things and saying things that are out of character. I think of a loss of control, precisely what these people display daily on the train.
Back to the race. After the race, a bunch of people were going out for food and drink. It was getting late and I knew that if I drank, I would be just a mess the next day. Just ran 3.5 miles, no food in my stomach, it wouldn’t have been good. So I had to cut loose and head towards the train. I had time to kill, and I needed to eat, so I was looking around for someplace to hit. I was walking by my old workplace, the CBOE. Not much was jumping out at me. I couldn’t think of where to go, most of the places were closed anyway. I looked down one street cuz I was thinking Potbelly. It was closed. Qdoba was just closing down. I crossed the street. Billy Goat. The Billy Goat tavern is a Chicago institution. If you’ve seen the old Saturday Night Live sketch with John Belushi saying, “Cheeborger, cheeborger, no coke, pepsi, no fries, chips.” Well that’s the Billy Goat. They have a good burger kinda greasy. They have fries now, and the fries were the best thing on the menu. I stress were. I stopped into the goat and made my order. There’s a special language spoken at the Goat, and it came right back to me even though I haven’t been there in years. The guy said, “Whaddayawant.” I replied, “Doublecheezburgerfries.” It’s basically one word and when you say it, they know what you’re talking about. I was pretty amped cuz I was hungry and I hadn’t been to the goat in a long time. The burger was as expected. I prolly should’ve gotten a triple cuz the bread kinda overpowers everything. The fries were the real attraction, and to my surprise, they kinda sucked. They were undercooked. Usually they are crispy and very salty. This time they tasted like raw potatoes. Total bummer. I ran into a guy I knew from the CBOE and we chatted it up. That was nice. I’ll prolly go back to the goat. Maybe in a couple years.
Happy memorial day weekend. Enjoy the unofficial beginning of Summer. I’m hoping to go see Hum on Monday, but the fact that it coincides with the Hawks game kinda screws things up. We’ll see.
I’m starting to think the PDA people are having an affair. There really is no other explanation. I saw them today; they were in a different car. I was reading my book, so I got off the train after everyone had left. Then I saw them smooching in the other section of the train car. If they aren’t having an affair, if they are married and live together, then there is something psychologically wrong with them. If they are married, and they just can’t keep their hands off of each other at any waking moment, that’s unhealthy. The question that stands out above all others is…Is it love? Or is it Lust? I’m thinking lust at this point. To me, Love is more subtle, less demonstrative. When I think of love I think of an understanding that does not need to be spoken. When I think of lust I think of physical desire that cannot be controlled. I think of doing things and saying things that are out of character. I think of a loss of control, precisely what these people display daily on the train.
Back to the race. After the race, a bunch of people were going out for food and drink. It was getting late and I knew that if I drank, I would be just a mess the next day. Just ran 3.5 miles, no food in my stomach, it wouldn’t have been good. So I had to cut loose and head towards the train. I had time to kill, and I needed to eat, so I was looking around for someplace to hit. I was walking by my old workplace, the CBOE. Not much was jumping out at me. I couldn’t think of where to go, most of the places were closed anyway. I looked down one street cuz I was thinking Potbelly. It was closed. Qdoba was just closing down. I crossed the street. Billy Goat. The Billy Goat tavern is a Chicago institution. If you’ve seen the old Saturday Night Live sketch with John Belushi saying, “Cheeborger, cheeborger, no coke, pepsi, no fries, chips.” Well that’s the Billy Goat. They have a good burger kinda greasy. They have fries now, and the fries were the best thing on the menu. I stress were. I stopped into the goat and made my order. There’s a special language spoken at the Goat, and it came right back to me even though I haven’t been there in years. The guy said, “Whaddayawant.” I replied, “Doublecheezburgerfries.” It’s basically one word and when you say it, they know what you’re talking about. I was pretty amped cuz I was hungry and I hadn’t been to the goat in a long time. The burger was as expected. I prolly should’ve gotten a triple cuz the bread kinda overpowers everything. The fries were the real attraction, and to my surprise, they kinda sucked. They were undercooked. Usually they are crispy and very salty. This time they tasted like raw potatoes. Total bummer. I ran into a guy I knew from the CBOE and we chatted it up. That was nice. I’ll prolly go back to the goat. Maybe in a couple years.
Happy memorial day weekend. Enjoy the unofficial beginning of Summer. I’m hoping to go see Hum on Monday, but the fact that it coincides with the Hawks game kinda screws things up. We’ll see.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Def not worth reading
The PDA people were back today. I’ve been thinking about ways to sit down and chat with them. I’m not sure if it’s such a good idea. Not only that, but it’s kinda fun to watch them and try to figure it out for myself. Like today, the woman was telling the guy a story about work and she was getting really animated. I found this odd. If they live together, then that type of animation would be exhausted at home, not at 7am the next day. You can make the same argument for the heavy petting and kissing, that’s why these guys interest me. It makes the most sense that they are having an affair, but wouldn’t you want to keep that secret? Riding the train together and dry humping the whole time is not exactly how you keep the affair discreet. So I’ve been devising ways to crash their party. The easiest way would be to kinda case them out, and then try to sit with them when the train fills up, pretend that I got on at the last stop. They usually sit in one of the 4 person seats, and I don’t know if they put their briefcases and stuff on the other seat. I could just ask them to move that shit outta the way. I dunno. If I can manage to squeeze in with them, then I can subtly broach the subject, ask where they are from, are they married, etc. The problem is they prolly are married…to other people. So they will say they are married and might not be married to each other. I was thinking that I could say, “you guys seem very affectionate, I think it’s refreshing to see two people so in love…” Or some shit like that. It’s tough. How do you ask the question? Wheatever, for now, I’m gonna just observe.
“I was just making an observation.” “Yeah? Who are you? Isaac Fuckin Newton? I’m gonna be watchin you Newton.”
I think I mentioned that all shows with Bleach Battalion have been cancelled and I am pretty sure that I am officially out of the band. Well not officially, but I think they cancelled their facebook accounts and went underground again. Oh well. I have so many other things going on that not having the band is a sort of relief. I did really like the music and it was two tons of fun playing with them. The problem with the shows we had booked was that they coincided with some shows I wanted to see. So now I can see the shows. I think I’ve mentioned them like 100 times, Noise by Numbers this weekend, Off with their heads, the arrivals, etc. Pegboy is playing a street fest two weeks from Sunday. The arrivals open for them. I’m way geeked about that. I’m planning on going. Lotta rock coming up. Hum on Monday. That should kick azz.
I started reading Atlas Shrugged. It’s pretty ok. I’m hoping it heats up a little bit. The characters are kind of caricaturish, and the story jumps around. I hate the way they’ve got somebody going somewhere to talk to someone about a specific issue, and then they cut away to background history, for like 20 pages. By the time you get back, you’re like “WTF was she going to talk to him about again?” Oh well, you can’t question Ayn Rand, she has a society of devoted followers who I’m sure beg to differ with my criticisms. I liked the fountainhead, so I’m sure this one will be solid too.
Has anyone followed any of the reality show hoopla lately? I guess somebody won Dancing with the stars. I heard it on TV, somebody was watching it. I heard Erin Andrews give her speech after being eliminated. I dunno. She went through something pretty traumatic and I think in this day and age, people don’t understand how someone could be so deeply affected by what happened. It’s definitely scary to be stalked, and inappropriate to take pictures of someone and post them on the net like that. I just think that after Pamela and Tommy, Paris and whoever, etc. The average person just thinks that seeing a celebrity nude is no big deal, or that all celebrities are comfortable being naked, are narcissistic, or that the public has a right to see it. When Erin Andrews was all angry, hurt, scarred, etc., I think people didn’t know how to take that, or were just like “oh get over it.” It’s kinda crazy, because her privacy was very seriously violated and I think a good number of people don’t see her as a victim. Well she seems to be recovering and at least she wasn’t physically harmed.
I dunno what’s going on with Idol. I don’t really follow it. I was following it the last time, but I’ve moved on. I think they blew it losing Paula, half of the fun was hearing what idiotic thing she was going to say next. Now they are losing Simon, the show is gonna blow. I dunno who the girl Chrystal is, my buddy from work who got let go knew her. He actually did some open mics and stuff in Michigan that she performed at as well. His appraisal of her talent was less than enthusiastic. He thought she sucked. I guess it makes sense that she has broken through to Middle America then.
“I was just making an observation.” “Yeah? Who are you? Isaac Fuckin Newton? I’m gonna be watchin you Newton.”
I think I mentioned that all shows with Bleach Battalion have been cancelled and I am pretty sure that I am officially out of the band. Well not officially, but I think they cancelled their facebook accounts and went underground again. Oh well. I have so many other things going on that not having the band is a sort of relief. I did really like the music and it was two tons of fun playing with them. The problem with the shows we had booked was that they coincided with some shows I wanted to see. So now I can see the shows. I think I’ve mentioned them like 100 times, Noise by Numbers this weekend, Off with their heads, the arrivals, etc. Pegboy is playing a street fest two weeks from Sunday. The arrivals open for them. I’m way geeked about that. I’m planning on going. Lotta rock coming up. Hum on Monday. That should kick azz.
I started reading Atlas Shrugged. It’s pretty ok. I’m hoping it heats up a little bit. The characters are kind of caricaturish, and the story jumps around. I hate the way they’ve got somebody going somewhere to talk to someone about a specific issue, and then they cut away to background history, for like 20 pages. By the time you get back, you’re like “WTF was she going to talk to him about again?” Oh well, you can’t question Ayn Rand, she has a society of devoted followers who I’m sure beg to differ with my criticisms. I liked the fountainhead, so I’m sure this one will be solid too.
Has anyone followed any of the reality show hoopla lately? I guess somebody won Dancing with the stars. I heard it on TV, somebody was watching it. I heard Erin Andrews give her speech after being eliminated. I dunno. She went through something pretty traumatic and I think in this day and age, people don’t understand how someone could be so deeply affected by what happened. It’s definitely scary to be stalked, and inappropriate to take pictures of someone and post them on the net like that. I just think that after Pamela and Tommy, Paris and whoever, etc. The average person just thinks that seeing a celebrity nude is no big deal, or that all celebrities are comfortable being naked, are narcissistic, or that the public has a right to see it. When Erin Andrews was all angry, hurt, scarred, etc., I think people didn’t know how to take that, or were just like “oh get over it.” It’s kinda crazy, because her privacy was very seriously violated and I think a good number of people don’t see her as a victim. Well she seems to be recovering and at least she wasn’t physically harmed.
I dunno what’s going on with Idol. I don’t really follow it. I was following it the last time, but I’ve moved on. I think they blew it losing Paula, half of the fun was hearing what idiotic thing she was going to say next. Now they are losing Simon, the show is gonna blow. I dunno who the girl Chrystal is, my buddy from work who got let go knew her. He actually did some open mics and stuff in Michigan that she performed at as well. His appraisal of her talent was less than enthusiastic. He thought she sucked. I guess it makes sense that she has broken through to Middle America then.
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