Truth be Told

Nothing mentionable has happened lately. At work, two co-workers finished reading their respective copies of Slash, the autobiography of the Guns n' Roses guitarist. One day after I finished a magazine, I picked up the book and commenced reading, with no good reason apart from the high value I put on pop-culture "knowledge." 455 pages later, I now consider myself very well informed of the happenings that went down in the late 80s/early 90s of a band I still don't really have a lot of interest in.

Gettin' Lifted

Yesterday, met up with Seth, Max, Frank, and some Letts 3 South outsiders to visit HersheyPark. The weather was far from exceptional, and we got soaked multiple times. The best part of the day was riding Fahrenheit, the new rollercoaster, featuring the world's steepest drop (as advertised on the radio) - 97 degrees, negative.

Didn't take too many pictures, in part due to the rain. Below, from closest to farthest: Reyna, Max, Seth, and Ian.

In the Summertime...

...when the weather is high. A song everyone's heard but nobody can identify. My dad finds this particular 70s jam by Mungo Jerry to be great, and not just because of the coincidental name overlap (that's right, Jerry, short for Jerome). Particularly, he likes to repeat to me the lyric "Have a drink, have a drive/go out and see what you can find/If her daddy's rich, take her out for a meal/If her daddy's poor, just do what you feel." Anyway, summer's shaping up to be alright. Today at work we scored three hours of overtime just to participate in a relay that consisted of two teams made up of 4 guys and girls apiece. A member of each sex had to either swim, bike, run, or kayak. Unfortunately, it ended in a tie, but I did my part and achieved a sizable lead on bike. By the way, a picture of the pool I work at:

And the crew I work with:

And the hot dog contest that went down today in a poor mimicry of that Coney Island jawn. By no means an IFOCE event, but a fun thing to watch. My supervisor Ryan (not pictured) won by eating six hot dogs the fastest, in about 15 minutes.

Scrapped

So, I play basketball (in a competitive sense) two or three times a week. In these shoes, no less:

Take note of the holes where my big toe sticks out. I thought a picture would be nice before I pitched'em. Anyway, I ran these shoes damn hard, for a good 3-4 months with those holes, and finally convinced me mum to buy me some new ones.

Fancy. Patent. Air Force 25s "Be True" pack


Currently listening: The Strokes' Room On Fire

The Good News Is

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2008/07/02/costello.magic.mushroom.cnn

Above is a link to some CNN coverage of a Hopkins' study on magic mushrooms, which I found particularly enlightening, seeing that I did a 15-page research project on Tim Leary for my English class. Unfortunately, CNN is no YouTube, so I couldn't just post it outright on me blog. After this, my thoughts are as follows:

1. Hmm, maybe Leary actually was on to something, just a bit too radical. On that note, I'm of the opinion that most people should read Flashbacks, his incredible autobiography. Regardless, screw J. Edgar Hoover/Nixon/FDA.

2. Hmm, CNN says mushrooms shouldn't try and be obtained, due to their illegality and danger. I'm glad that I stopped taking advice from major media outlets years ago. Screw them, too.

In hindsight

To quote Destroyer, as I believe to do would please many of my readers, "it was a good year, it was a very good year." Below are some pictures of experiences I've had, people and bands I've seen, and places I've been throughout my freshman year of college. Reviewing the pictures I wanted to show people for the purpose of this blog was temporarily cathartic, as I miss DC more and more as the days go by. I've fallen into the monotonous routine of going to work and then coming home and reading, playing basketball only on the occasional night with some old heads. There's not much to do where I'm from, and one of my favourite activities involves a tight used book store in the town where I work, which only perpetuates my routine. Anyway, by no means chronological, these pictures were from the good days.

Music
Aesop Rock.
Bon Iver - Rafik and I Metro'd it out to VA to see this show, and then caught a ride with a stranger back to the station. We didn't think to beg for a ride before we walked a couple miles in the snow.
The Go! Team. The night I drunkenly dropped my cell phone onto the Metro tracks, and everyone left me behind to wait to get it. Also, Nick came along, as was me birthday present to him.
Stars.
People
Ron Paul came to campus, and I paid ten lousy bucks to see him (look hard - he's only one of three facing the camera). Obama came to campus, and I didn't bother to wake up in time to wait in line. Disenchanted, to say the least.
Jimmy Carter. I was among the lucky ones to get a ticket, chiefly because I was in class refreshing and refreshing the web page to get one while others worked diligently in Photoshop.
Dave Eggers. He signed a book for my sister, and gave her name an umlaut.
His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Or should I say "His Holiness?" Trish sent me an email shining a spotlight on scandal, and the only thing I can do at this point is hope to learn more:
http://www.westernshugdensociety.org/
Derel. Stenciling is everywhere, which is among the top reasons I love it. And check it, he's even got the Nike's on.
Protest. 'Cause when I'm not shoe-shopping, I care about the way people and their country's economies are treated.
Police state.
IMF/World Bank Protest.
"I.M.Fucked"
Some protesters, and a hobo wondering what the deal is. I think that girl goes to AU, also.Places
The Village Voice HQ, somewhere near Bowery.
The Rotunda in the Congress of the United States of America. Fancy.

Rules are Rules

This is a picture of one of me bosses at work, Ryan. I'll admit, I've grown to be pretty judgmental over the years, and this ole boy definitely appears to be the type of ego-maniacal jock I've come to detest post-high school. But the truth is, he's not. He's real chill, has good taste in hip-hop (we listen to Illmatic on our 75-minute-long breaks, for example), and knows how to have a good time. At a party a coupla weeks ago, he showed up with a case of Blue Moon and gave it to all the guards. I guess the moral of the story is that not all jocks are tools, just the ones I graduated with.
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My other boss, however, is obsessed with domesticity and perfect relationships, and it is only when we're talking about these things that she seems perfectly contented. I'm sure it pained her somehow to know that I've never had a real relationship, although it doesn't bother me in the least bit. Fortunately, she has great potential to be cool, also, particularly when she bakes up some mean cookies.