congratulations!

As J to the E to the double-S so duly noted, I have just had my 1000th visitor to my humble e-ponderings. Ze hailed from ce-web1.wesleyan.edu, and visited at 1:55am Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. So, Mx thousandth visitor, comment here to claim your prize! Prices and participation may vary.

Skipping out of school and sneaking into shows

Memo to all unfamiliar persons riding the bus to NYC:

• If my headphones are on, it most likely means I would prefer listening to what they're playing than to you.
  
• If I tell you I'm not that into hardcore, that should imply that I have not heard of the random bands you did merch for one summer.
  
• When sleeping, lean back against the seat. Do not lean forward. Most especially, do not lean forward and halfway into my seat with your crusty gelled hair, even if the sideways movement is due to centripetal motion of the bus.
  
• Inquiries regarding my illegal drug use are not polite conversation.
  
• If my headphones are on loud enough that I do not hear you speak to me, do not touch me to get my attention unless it is an emergency. "Do you think the movie is loud enough?" is not an emergency.
  
• If I tell you that I do not follow graffiti, proceeding to ask me whether I have heard of xyz random graffiti artist is an annoying exercise in futility.
  
• Do not be offended or angry at me for failing to predict the bus making an unscheduled stop at Roy Rogers. The driver has already informed us that the stop was due to the bus making good time.
  
• No. You cannot touch my iPod.
  
• If I tell you that I do not smoke cigarrettes, that implies that I do not know whether a pack of Marlboros is cheap at the Port Authority.
  
• The fact that as soon as I answer your stupid questions, I put my headphones back on, implies that I do not wish to speak to you further.
  

I think I'm in love

With Brooklyn. And the Villiage. And 24-hour subways. And open-till-4am pubs. And my Metrocard(s). And the song, My My Metrocard. And the song, I Love New York City. And, basically, all things New York City.

Hello, my name is Aerob, and I am an addict.

It started with listening to the recorded stuff. I kept wanting more; I even paid for some of it. Then I saw them live. I've now seen the World/Inferno Friendship Society twice in three weeks. And I still want to see them again on Friday, even if it means leaving CT at 7am on Saturday to make it to work on time.

Lesson One

It would have been faster (if logistically impossible) to have gone to Connecticut to sleep than back to the Hamptons. Of course, checking out JHoff's school was nice, plus seeing the ridiculousness of the Hamptons in, well, some of its glory (it is only March, after all).

Lesson Two

Just keep your knees bent, and your arms in a vague blocking position, and even the big, sometimes scary DKM fans will not kill you in the pit. Also, the DKM/Yankee fans will not kill you for cheering for the Red Sox.

Balls

slang. noun. 1: Bravery, courage. 2: Playing 'Tessie' with a backdrop of 2004 ALCS highlights in lower Manhattan.
See: Dropkick Murphys.

The Toast List

Highlights include:

• To drunk-dialing one's employer
  
• To drunk-dialing other people's parents
  
• To Fanta
  
• To Rex the Pirate
  
• To Murphy's Stout
  
• To Shannon Stout
  
• To awesome kid from Cork
  
• To flipping that guy off in the bus station
  
• To being a Wes alum and still getting invited to parties with the word "naked" in the name
  
• To tuberculosis
  
• To the guy on the subway who likes spelling bees
  
• To the Molly Wee
  
• To floor hockey
  
• To writing my English midterm the night before it was due and colling Mom for advice
  
• To BCod's "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" video
  
• To the Flying Caffiene Squad
  
• To Aunt Mary Beth
  
• To textured floors
  
• To Graceland, dog bombs, 35 Home Ave, Frank Bertino, and the housing lottery.

Lesson Three

Everywhere in NYC is farther away than you think. Subway rides can, in fact, take longer than 15 minutes. Especially when you really, really, really have to pee. (Note: the lesson is not "Pee before you leave the pub", because we did, and still really, really, really had to again by the time we got home.)

And the moral of the story is:

• You never know where Jason Berger might show up.
  
• Even the NYPD can rock out when they try.
  
• If the bartender is still listening, you haven't missed Last Call.

ever have one of those days where you show up to exercise class, and instead of the usual instructor is her really hot husband, and then nobody shows up so it's more like a personal training session, and not only is he really hot but also impressed by your weightlifting technique and your familiarity with brazilian jiu jitsu?

that was today.

it's st. patrick's day!

the night before
hey mom and dad, want to get irish breakfast with me on thursday? it'll totally be worth getting up at the ass-crack of dawn!
ok

6:40am
oh wow, that line at what will probably be the best irish breakfast ever (dropkick murphys playing an acoustic set; giving away a pair of u2 tickets, plus the plane tickets to seattle where the concert is; and most importantly, sausage) is really long. maybe somewhere else is serving irish breakfast at 7am

6:45am
hey look, this place is serving breakfast, *and* giving away free t-shirts! even the girls who left best-irish-breakfast-ever (bibe) came here instead, altho they only did it becase bibe wasn't serving alcohol till 8am... probably due to state law

7am
welcome to other-irish-breakfast (oib). please have your id ready.
but i only want breakfast, no alcohol.
you still have to show your id.
but you can't legally serve alcohol for an hour, and there will be about 5 people in your establishment, so you clearly won't lose track.
sorry. any other day, but not today.
but any other day you won't be serving sausage! sigh.

7:30am
this american breakfast, while tasty, is not irish breakfast. who would have thought the drinking could hinder my st. patrick's day plans?

6pm
ooh... guinness stew... and guinness... tasty!

10pm
yay the asgard! alas, no harpoon brewery pipe band(s) this year... to my knowledge.

friday

24 points in the first round... i *rule* at gambling!

saturday

7pm
hey aerob, will you cut my hair into a mullet and dye it blue?
sure tbot... um, you know i don't know how to cut hair right?
whatev. thanks!
um... i think your scalp is more blue than your hair.
eh

11pm
::dance dance dance::

sunday

1:30pm
decordova, i heart you! not only do you have cool art, but you always let my friends in for free!

5pm
um... maybe we should have figured out the baby seat *before* it was time to leave to pick up our cousins at the airport...

5:30pm
the plane landed. why are we still tinkering with the baby seat, at home?

5:45pm
yes, please mr. toys r us guy, put a rush on the baby seat.

6:15pm
have you been waiting long?
oh no, only ten, fifteen minutes.
aw, cute baby!

11:45pm
18 points in round 2... i *suck* at gambling!

***

next weekend... off to nyc to see some shows =D

fuck this cold shit, when's spring? werd

on the horizon:

19 march: T-BOT COMES HOME!!! ... for the night.
20 march: cousin p-fred comes to visit with husband and baby!
25 march: world/inferno friendship society in BROOKLYN!!! with the jessmeister (who'd better not back out...)
26 march: dropkick murphys with KPd and...?
1-3 april: t-bot home again, to see the cuz
13 april: 23! oh... shit... if 21-year-olds can't die, and 22-year-olds are bulletproof... what happens at 23?

keep an eye out for things made by me for sale on ebay. or, i'll post links, when they exist.

and once again, i'm cutting it close with my homework... and all it is is taking pictures! ... and getting them developed. imagine if it took a few hours to print your essays, and you could only do it during typical business hours--how many would have been late?

upcoming excitement

all of a sudden there are a million shows i want to see. or, 4-ish. one is already out, as there's nobody to go with and it's a school night (boo), but perhaps flogging molly will tour this summer and i can go with t-bot (aka, the best ever little bro). then this weekend off to see world/inferno with z-gold and a new and exciting friend of squirs. then the 26th the dropkick murphy's are playing in nyc, plus world/inferno is playing eclectic (apparently), and so now i'm torn.

also, new clubs start this week at leap. i'm assisting with a knitting and crocheting club, so i got me some yarn to make exciting new things. these things i then hope to sell at a profit on ebay. i have a prototype pair of (slightly not matching) chunky blue finger- and thumbless gloves (armwarmers?) available at cost, if anyone is interested. unfortunately, 'at cost' even might be too expensive (but, who knows? at least when it comes to ebay), but i think i might know an amazing way to cut such costs... and no, i'm not going to steal from the yarn store.