Most Random of the Day

The Boy Scout is back. Completely out of the blue he contacted me today after what? A couple months? He had told me that he was going to be really busy with closing down camp and on top of that his grandmother got really sick so he was going back to PA as much as he could so it would be a bit of time before we could see each other again. I said I understood and left it at that and never heard from him again. Until today.

Turns out his grandmother passed away and he had to fire a bunch of people including the camp caretaker. Which boils down to he has been home maybe 10 days since our last date a couple months ago. He apologized for dropping off the face of the earth. I told him I, of all people, understand how life can sometimes just take over and get crazy and make you disappear. I've have the impression based on all our previous interactions that he's a pretty sincere and honest guy - man was an Eagle Scout and in the Order of the Arrow (for all you out there who aren't boy scout geeks it's a very small, select group of Eagle Scouts) for God's sake.

Here's the thing. Our second date was pretty great. I haven't had a date that fun and comfortable in years and years. I'd really like to see him again but how can I tell if he's being honest or just an asshat? Ugh. I'm taking a chance kids. He's supposed to call me tonight to chat more. I'll keep you updated. This could be good - I need a distraction from Bob before I start to crush on the guy.

Story of my Life

All last weekend (Columbus Day) I felt like I was back in high school. In a good way. Neither Agie nor I worked Friday - her last day at work was Thursday and I took a vacation day.  The original plan was to spend the day in Baltimore then go to the Social Distortion show that night at Sonar. It turned out to be a really crappy day weather wise so we nixed the day part of the plan and went to see The Last Kiss. Pretty good flick.  After the movie we went to El Tamarindo for some yummy grub (third time that week for me - first was dinner with XM Saturday, second was dinner with the girls on Tuesday for Katie's last night in DC, more on those later) and then headed to Agie's to meet up with the boys (Tim and Bob-her husband and his friend).

The Social D show rocked. It was so good to see Mike Ness in action again. This was probably the 12th time I've seen them, maybe more, but the first time in about 8 years. Man it was fun! I can't remember the last time I was in a pit - very glad I decided to wear my Docs. Tim and Agie hung in the back while Bob and I went up to the front. I've been in more than my fair share of pits so I know how to avoid getting hurt by the guys moshing and crowd surfing but Bob decided on his own to be my guard, kept his arms around me and kept saying in my ear "you owe me. I'm taking elbows in the back for you." even though I didn't need one, I couldn't have asked for a better guard.  Bob's a pretty tough looking guy. He's about 6'3", bald, has half sleeve tats on both arms, was wearing Dickies and a wife beater and is one of the most genuinely nice guys I've ever met. And he's funny. I never had a chance. I am such a sucker for that kind of guy, but that's later in the story.

The next day we went to Bob's house in Bowie (for those of you not familiar with the area, it is f a r r from DC) for a kegger/bbq. So much fun. Almost too much fun. At one point a group of us went to the brand new skate park down the street from Bob's. It was good fun to listen to the kids there saying things like "that was totally awesome" and "wow, he's really good" while watching these guys in their 30s shred up the pool. Took me back to the days when some friends of mine used to drain people's pools to skate.

In order to protect the not innocent I will not go into too much detail about the remainder of the evening, but here is a list of some things that happened:

- 2 people streaked down Bob's street. One got paid $40. The other did it just for fun. The one who got paid ate it right as he started to run and tore up both his knees.

- Mexican wrestling masks were worn at various points in the evening, only sometimes while wrestling.

- A chainsaw made an appearance towards the end of the night. Three people used it trying to cut a stump down enough so it would fit in the chimnea. Didn't happen so it went on top where it caught on fire.

- Things burned in the chimnea include, but are not limited to, hats, tshirts, a skateboard deck, one of the aforementioned wrestling masks.

- Number of people who passed out, woke up before everyone else and went through the entire day without knowing they had a bulls eye drawn on the back of their head in silver sharpie, 1.

Since none of us were in any condition to drive, we crashed at Bob's. Somehow, the single guy ended up with the guest bed, Agie and Tim got the futon and I woke up (clothed) with my head on Bob's shoulder with his arm around me, hand on my head petting my hair and a kiss on the forehead. Not a bad way to start the day.

Sunday I had lunch with Heather at Busboys and Poets which was yummy. Then I came back home, took a nap and just did things around the house which is pretty much what I did Monday too. All in all, a really memorable weekend I would have to say.

Overheard on Metro

"Those poor little west coast kids just can't learn about American history like we can here." I wanted to correct the little old biddies but I held my tongue.

Songs of the Friday the 13th

Good Time - Leroy

Roller coasters. Holy roller. I got shot down in Southern California.

El Salvador - Athlete

Fly to El Salvador. I don't know why and I don't know what for.

Pain Killer - Turin Brakes

Summer rain, praying someone feels the same.


I'm on a bit of a Zach Braff music kick lately. Went to two really good shows - one last Friday, one last night. Saving it for the next post.

3 Best Words to Hear

I miss you.


'nuff said.

The Tower Crumbles

It has not been a good month for a few of my favorite things. Tower Records has been bought up by a liquidator and is going out of business. Sad day. I can't even begin to list how many record releases, appearances, free shows I went to at Tower locations. Sure, they got to be overpriced in recent years but it was one of the few places you could go and know they'd have that new release by the not so well known band you loved or that import you'd been looking high and low for and had almost given up hope of finding. And who can forget the U2 video filmed on the roof of the Sunset location? Sigh. More importantly about 3,000 people are going to be losing their jobs. Tough times. Click on title for a fairly good article detailing the transaction.

Couple Things

I know I've been absent as of late but I have a very good reason. I gave notice last week and my last day at the only job I've had so far in DC will be October 17th. My first day at my new job will be the 18th, so there isn't going to be any fun/down time between the two unfortunately. So instead of relaxing in the now calm environment of our office (which is under construction) I've been spending the time after our crazy events at Mount Vernon crazily finishing up a bunch of stuff and writing a manual for the person who will be filling my shoes. Luckily she starts Monday so I'll have two days to train her before throwing her to the wolf.

The main reasoning behind the job move is that my base salary is a significant amount more than I'm making now which will help me to pay for school. Also, it's a much lower stress position so I won't be exhausted every night when I get home and will have energy to focus on school work. I'm very excited and very scared at the same time that I'm finally doing what I've wanted to do since I was 12. I'm now on a five/six year plan to finish my degree and most if not all of law school (Mon Dieu they exclaim!) so I'm biting the bullet and getting myself a really, really nice MacBook Pro and wireless internet at home. After that is all set up, my posting will get back to a more regular, once a day schedule starting next week hopefully.

Song of the Morning

Oh no we gotta go. We're not gonna live forever.

Dracula from Houston - Butthole Surfers

On the metro coming home from a bbq in Bowie that started yesterday at 3. This is a great song to travel home to.

Second Line Of The Night

You only need to lick it to get the taste. - PlanB

Line Of The Day

I would have said that sober - PlanB

Go Fish

This weekend saw the last games of Tim Salmon. Even though he never hit the elusive 300th home run, he is the all-time leader in home runs for the Angels. He was consistently on the leaderboards during his storied career with the Angels which spanned two decades. Aside from his stats, his love of the game and obvious joy playing makes him one of my favorite players in baseball history (well, that and the fact that he stayed with the Angels his entire professional career - an anomaly in these times of free agency). Good sportsmanship in professional leagues is rare these days so it is with a heavy heart I say farewell to one of the great sportsmen of our time.

Saturday Night Recaplet

So of course The Killers were a no show on Saturday night but it was a great night nonetheless. Since I'm pretty much dead to the world until Thursday and my blackberry is having issues the story may have to wait a couple days, but it's a good one. It involves injury (to me), a bar fight (independent of my injury), a really cute head of security who I may just see again and early morning spent with the staff of the bar (felt like college all over again). All in all, a very fun night.

Song of the Day

Good Life - Francis Dunery

Putting together some music for the party tonight and came across this oldie.

Speaking of good music I've been told by a friend of a friend of someone in the know that there is a good chance The Killers are going to be playing a bit in a small club after their concert tonight. And I will be right down the street. Hopefully word on the street is right and Matt gives me a heads up if he hears anything more. Man, that would rock.

Is It October Yet?

Just leaving the office for home. Cancelled plans with Matt and am going to go straight home, pour a glass of wine, get in my jammies and go to bed since I need to get up by 8 am tomorrow. Second interview went well today, should find out about the job early next week. I have an interview with another firm Monday. I am ready to move on. I really don't want to go through another Mount Vernon.

I'm Alive

But just barely. Good God it's been a busy month! I've been on dates, interviews, out with friends, reconnected with a dear friend from high school who has missed me as much as I've missed him, need to finish telling about my trip home to CA, I get to hang out with The Duke of York a couple days next week (which is part of why I've been so out of touch), saw a couple really good shows, had 2 coworkers give notice so their last days are the same week that Katie leaves for Guatemala, which may also be my next to last week at work (be kind to me the first week of October - it is going to be really rough). I'm exhausted just typing this and I know I'm missing some stuff.  I promise I will return to normal after September 27th.

Be Kind and Don't Roll Your Eyes

I know. I know. I've been bad again. Work has kicked into high gear and I feel like I'm slowly dying from lack of fresh, outside air. I will try to catch up on the past few week/ends' activities this evening while watching mediocre television and talking to the new boy. New boy you say? Yeah, and I'm invoking first trimester rule and not talking about him anymore. So there.

Have I Told You Lately That I'm Brilliant?

We're in the midst of planning a ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of a museum we've helped fund the building of and I am in charge of finding enough fabric to serve as the ribbon. I had the height and width of the building and needed to figure out the length diagonally across. I busted out the Pythagorean theorem and lo and behold the hypotenuse is 36 feet. Who knew Mr. Parr was correct when he said we would need the things we learned in Geometry?!

So Totally Stoked

The Snow Patrol concert that I've been looking forward to since May is finally happening this Sunday night. Oh, wait, it gets better. Just found out a little band called Augustana is opening for them who, thanks again to Debby even though I figured out I had one of their songs already, I have been listening to a lot lately. Two good bands for one low price. And, I might have a date that night before the concert with a real live, nice cute boy. Oh, it's a good week.

Song for a Rainy Day

Anna Nalick - Paper Bag

As I was running through the park to work with my jacket over my head (no umbrella at home because I left it in New Jersey) my iPod gave me this song to enjoy. Good album, totally underrated and eclipsed by her song "Breathe (2AM)".

Song of the Rainy Day

Evanescence - Call Me When You're Sober

Getting ready to head up to Philly for the day. Should be a really fun time.