Hipsters

Fuck em.

Golly it's been a while. Much to write about quickly since I need to attend our second house meeting and go work out after. I'll keep the topics short yet meaningful.

I still haven't found the time to talk about the release of Halo3, which seems for ever ago now. I really haven't got to play it much yet, but from what I've experienced I like. Really it can't ever replace the initial shock that Halo2 gave me, but it is a nice little update and reminder of Halo. What I'm trying to say is, it really doesn't feel that much different than Halo2 so it isn't anything new to me. Halo2 was a fresh and new experience and had me hooked for months, but I don't really see Halo3 doing that. It is nice to go home on the weekends and just sit on Halo3 with Jon (Who I miss very much, just had to throw that out) till 4 A.M chatting with him, Red and Danielle. It certainly has made the time away from him seem much shorter. Just being able to talk to him and being able to feel his youth come out my head-set is all worth it. Halo3 is well worth the buy, but it isn't more than I expected. I wish I could play it more often, cause the truth is I've been getting my ass kicked (to my standards) on there. I guess a 1:1 ratio isn't that bad, but it's not satisfying knowing that in my Halo2 prime I could break off about 30 kills at will in a team slayer.

I was lucky enough to experience the Underoath headliner and the Chiodos headliner these past few weeks. Underoath's show was on a Thursday and the Friday after I was a zombie the whole day. I think that morning I woke up, unraveled my legs from underneath my covers, climbed down from my bed and stood there for an uncertain amount of time. With my eyes closed, I stood by the bathroom door not sure what my next move was. Of course my normal morning routine is to take a shower at the point. I paced my self for Underoath which was smart because I was gassed half way through the Underoath set. I sat back for Maylene and The Sons of Disaster who were pretty good. I guess their sound isn't really my favorite but I enjoyed watching and listening from the back. I got into the floor for Poison The Well and jammed out for "Nerdy" which is the only song I really knew by them. I got my rock on for Every Time I Die who motivated the Myth to open up what was possibly one of the biggest circle pits I have ever seen. Dean and Nick got sucked into that circle pit and told me a girl passed out because she fell and got trampled. Lastly, Underoath. Their set was just epic. No other word can really describe what they did on stage. They walked on stage to Salmamir with this video projected behind the drum set. The video was well made and totally creepy. They had these awesome transitions between songs and amazing interludes. Every time they ended a song Aaron hit one if his digital drum pads which was set on this huge bass sound and the projector shot out Underoath's iconic 0. They probably played for at least a hour and fifteen minutes which is crazy long. Way to much Underoath for me to handle (Jigga please...). I got home, swapped some stories, took a shower and went to bed.
The following Monday was time for Chiodos. I felt that this was the best all around concert in October. We waited in this huge twisting line at the Cabooze and when we got in we had to wait for Leah and Zak since they didn't have tickets. I could barely stand still while waiting for them since The Devil Wears Prada were already on stage. Once Zak and Leah got in I quickly assimilated into the crowd. Devil Wears Prada is just hella crazy and I only wish I knew the words so I could have screamoed it up with them. Next was Scary Kids Scaring Kids who I am just obsessed with right now and I don't know why. Their set was really good, but it wasn't life changing or anything. I guess I just really dig their new CD. Emery was the main support and I was extremely disappointed by them. It took them way to long to set up and get on stage which killed the atmosphere and energy and when they did hit the stage their sound was all messed up. I think I could have sung an acoustic ballad louder than their amps were set. It really sucked the energy out of the crowd. Since they took so long to set up, they had to cut their set short and they decided to cut most of their songs from The Question which were the only songs I really knew since I hadn't listened to their new joint much. They did end with Walls which was a wise choice since that is the song most people know by them. Watching Scary Kids and Emery back to back really makes you appreciate keyboardists. The Emery keyboardists did one of the sickest things I had ever seen in concert. He decided to walk on the crowd haha. It was like watching Jesus. Chiodos finished the night off with a bang. They played a nice blend of old and new and mixed it nicely with soft and hard. Craig played a couple of acoustic songs for the encore. The most unique part of the night was when some jackass threw a cup full of ice at Craig between his two acoustic songs. Craig paused and let the dummy know that Craig might sound and look like a girl, but that he could kick his fucking ass. And that there are about 300 other people that would back him. Then he finished the night. It took for ever to get out cause Nick and Zak walked around the venue trying to find Zak's shoe. When we finally did get out I was greeted by B-Nag of Four Letter Lie handing out FLL ads. I was in much better shape after this show and I had enough energy to sit around and chat with the crew. For some odd reason I decided to assign Pokemon characters to everyone when we got home. I'm weird. I came away form these two concerts with an understanding of why good bands are good. Because they are smart and they work hard. When you compare bands, it is pretty obvious which ones practice and think things out and which ones don't. I mean, I'm sure all bands practice their songs, but it shows when a band puts in a little extra work. Although Emery stunk the joint up, their performance would have been very good if it weren't for the poor sound quality. And Underoath - it is obvious that their set was well practiced. It can't be that epic on accident. There are some concerts I was looking forward to in November but it looks like I will be in Korea during those so I guess I wait until some December shows are listed or else some spring tours and then Bamboozle. We'll see.

This past weekend was our second week of football for the 2007 fall season. We had a handful of people bail out so at first the core group of people were going to call the game off but we managed to get a 3v3 game and it turned out to be one of the more entertaining weeks in recent memory and one of the more memorable. We played like 2 or 3 games with one set of teams and then mixed it up to see if we could balance the teams out a little more. We were in our second game with the new teams when the game had to and due to the skin above my eye being split open. Dean and I collided faces and I thought it was just going to be a bruiser but when the guys walked over to check up on me they let me know that my face was bleeding. When I looked up I saw a bunch of shocked faces and they let me know that I was probably going to need stitches. When I saw the cut for the first time in Andy's car mirror I couldn't believe how big the cut was. It honestly didn't feel as bad as it looked and I'm not trying to be macho or anything, but I am curious as to why something like that hurts less then a bruise or something? I've seen boxers with the same cut above their eye and it looks like the end of the world to me, but this cut was honestly like 200% better than a paper cut pain-wise. The worst part was going to the doctors cause it took 4 hours to get 8 stitches. It was horrible. The part that hurt the most was getting the novocaine cause it burned on the way in. Aside from the hospital, the most upsetting part was that we couldn't finish the game. I guess it's a good thing since we were losing in overtime and the other team just got the ball and I hadn't lost all day. Now I can still say I went undefeated that day. I was playing much better football compared to week 1. Our football games have such a different feel to it without Jon. When Jon is on the field it's like there is black-hole on the field that everyone has to pay attention to on defense and offense. I'm a thinker when playing football so not having to worry about Jon takes so much weight off my mind since Jon and I were pretty much not allowed to play on the same team. Anywho, pray that my gash doesn't scar horribly and I look forward to the next time I get to play some football.

I have a couple of important topics I still need to blog about but it'll have to wait since I have a couple of things I still need to do tonight. I've been struggling with a social issue lately and I wanted to bring up a topic I learned about in my psychoanalysis class that really dug into me. Also I've been into music like crazy lately. Maybe because of all the concerts, but it is one of those moments in my life again where it feels like music is the most understanding element around. All I want to do is listen to music and sing lately (which has kind of been hard with my cold). Oh, and I need to update the sad state of our apartment. Mostly just Ernest Hemmingway shit. He sucks at life. I hope everyone is doing better than my eye...because if you're not, your life sucks.

That's Never Been In My Yard Before!

I've just received two horrible notes of news. The first one happened a couple hours ago when Nick called me to let me know that we will not be heading up to Duluth this weekend to visit Jon. Which is a major let down since I had my mind set for about two weeks that we would be going up. I guess playing Halo3 with Jon via X-Box live will have to do. It would have been nice though to go up and chill. The second note I just read off of Absolutepunk is that Fred Mascherino of Taking Back Sunday just left the band to pursue his solo project. I know Taking Back Sunday has had member changes before, but this is the Taking Back Sunday I know and have dug into. Also with the amount of success they have had I really thought this lineup was solidified. What I mean by that is that this member change phase seems different from the last one. During the previous change they were still a growing band but I thought this time they had time to gel and harden. I think it makes it much harder to change. Oh well, we will see what happens. They are writing a record now, so really soon too.

While we are on the topic of music, I might as well continue. Recently I got to hear and watch the music video from System of a Down front man Serj Tankian's new project. Although the song sounds just like System of a Down's material, the video is what hooked me. I mean who else has the balls to set up building blocks in the figure of two buildings and throw a toy plane into it? I know I don't know Serj personally nor have I followed his work that much in depth (I did indulge in the earlier System of a Down songs), but he seems like a real humanitarian. Some one who knows his shit and isn't afraid to preach his opinion. Much respect for Serj Tankian. I look forward to his CD coming out at the end of the month.

I had the chance to catch Good Luck Chuck on opening night and I guess I wasn't disappointed but I wasn't really falling out of my chair laughing either. I guess I'm just a sucker for Jessica Alba movies, and so I've decided I need to put my wiener in check and stop wasting my money on Alba movies. Good Luck Chuck had some funny moments but sometimes I think it was just over the top. Like Dane Cook's sex montage, that shit was crazy, and Dane's friend fucking the grape fruit. Yuck! I would never fuck a grape fruit because that's weird and because my dick would be all citrusy and sticky. With that said, I must admit Jessica Alba is fine/hot/sexy/beautiful/gorgeous/and any other adjective that compliments her looking so god damn amazing. Plus, it was one of those bubbly romantic comedies that everyone has to kind of love unless you're cynical fuck with no romance in your heart. It just has one of those, "I want to hold you forever and you're always on my mind" themes to it. Cute, no?

One last thing before my Ernest Hemingway style blog comes to a close (Pwah haha). During my time away from Jon and Dick, I've felt like the youthful side of personality has been sapping away slowly. I think they both were key elements to me being my self around people. I mean, I'm always my self around people, but they allowed me to be ridiculous when ever I wanted. They let me use my imagination and they were able to follow along with my visuals. I can't do that with everyone and especially around one of my fucking room-mates haha (He is such a buzz kill). This roommate always seems like he comes home with a "I'm going to beat the shit out of my wife when I get home" type of attitude. His temper is one of a kind. If he lived in a more rural area, he would indeed be considered white trash. Without a fucking doubt. I fear for his potential wives already. Not only is she going to have to cook, clean, look after, serve him, she is also going to have to put up with his shit and she probably is going to get slapped around. It's sad that to think women are still actually beat and still looked upon as an inferior sex. Humans and their superiority complex. It really does confuse me, but really when I look at my self from a third person point of view, I am not immune to this complex. It's just human nature to make things easier for them selves and harder for others.

Anywho, I need to check a couple of things, see if any updates appeared on Absolutepunk and then I want to get me some shut eye. Va-holla!

Dean Kong Steals Shit From Target

...Yes, the title is true. It may be hard to believe, but under Dean's monotone exterior is a viscous criminal. A stealing rat that denies any wrong doing, but let the truth be known. Va-holla!

My blogging has been inconsistent at best and that fact does not please me. My last blog was over a week ago. The best excuse I can come up with is that last week was a busy one filled with quizzes and a formal paper and lets not forget the release of Halo3 (More on Halo3 later, or perhaps a separate blog about it). This week should be a little smoother and should allow me to catch up on my readings I have fallen so far behind on. Tonight with my extra time, I tried my luck at curry and rice and it didn't turn out bad. The only thing that was a little messed up were the potatoes. I think I need to chop them into finer pieces and cook them a little longer. It still was probably the best meal I've had since I moved in. And did anyone catch that Padres vs. Rockies game that just ended a few minutes ago? What a game. A couple of other quick sports notes I should mention while on the topic. I won this years Fantasy Baseball league in the closest Fantasy Championship ever. Quan and I ended up tying 5-5 but Yahoo! awarded me with the victory since I beat him twice out of the three meetings during the regular season we had. Add another trophy to my already crowded collection. I am going to need to invest in a larger trophy case soon. Also, after the Monday Night game, I officially have my first Fantasy Football win of 2007-08. My team is coming together a little better and I hope to make a surge soon.

A couple of old notes I want to mention briefly. O.J Simpson is stupid and so are the New England Patriots. I wish O.J and Cochran the best of luck...oh wait, never mind. Ya, good luck idiot. And the Patriots are fucking cheaters, enough said. However, I am glad Randy Moss is back. But if they didn't cheat against the Eagles during the Super Bowl a few years ago, I would be even more baller than I am now.

A lot has been going on in our apartment since the last time I blogged and most of it is negative. Seeing that my bed time is sneaking up on me rather quickly here, I won't get into it with depth. A lot of the issues revolve around Mitch (And from chatting to roommates, I'm not the only one being bothered) and I've been chatting with a lot of outside sources to see what they would do and what they think of the whole situation. I tried to give them my best third person, non-partisan version of the story to those who needed that version so they could be the judge of all that is going on. I never want to just assume that I am the right party. But of course I gave them my side of the story after I gave them the third party version, because lets face it, venting feels good. Anywho, there has been some major bitching, some unfair yelling, and just to much inconsiderate behavior I see that eats away at me. I'm learning a lot about my fourth roommate, Zak. He is a really laid back dude which is nice, but he is really green when it comes to growing up and learning how to live out in the new adult world with new people. I have grown so much over these past three years. He is a little bit naive on things, but I give him a pass because he is two years behind me. Still, he has a lot of catching up to do. I also learned he is kind of a "bro" type. He is like border line bro - kind of like a bro that didn't make the cut with the other bros and is waiting to be called up. The thing is, I can't really relate with bros, and really people that are like me never get along with bros. I consider them shallow people, that's why I'm glad Zak is border line bro. I am not saying Zak is a shallow person because I don't think he is, I'm just saying he sometimes previews the personality type of those kind of people. The Bro-ish, frat-ish kind of dudes. You know, reckless and careless and naive and stupid and dumb and lets not forget gay. Ah shit, va-holla! Oh, however, there is one thing he does that kind of bothers me. He always sleeps on the living room couch. I mean, if we had 4 couches that would be okay, but we don't have enough seating for everyone when he does that. That is what I mean when I say people aren't considerate because well, he does have a bed.

Anywho, time to end this mess. I got to listen to the new Say Anything joint, arrange some things quick and then bed time. Va-holla!