Sit back and watch the world go by

Kevin 
So, today was more like one of my typical summer days. A day chalk full of what I would expect if I woke up and it was last summer. ---pause for reflection and slow slow sigh--- Those were good days.
Today started off with my alarm not waking me up until about 20 min before I had to be at work teaching a class. By some miracle, I ended up getting out of the house in time to arrive at work on time. AND I had a lunch packed. It was crazy.
So, at work, I got through teaching in what seemed like no time. We actually ran out of stuff to teach and pool-related activities to do, so Sean - the other instructor - and I decided that it would be fun to venture out into the park for a game of, yeah you guessed it, KICKBALL.
If you actaully guessed dodgeball, you have wrongingly assumed that I am some sort of tool that, simply because some funny Ben Stiller movie entitled 'Dodgeball' is in theaters at the moment, would actually think it was "cool" to go play dodgeball. I'm not trying to knock the movie, it was hilarious, but the fact that dodgeball leagues are making the front page of the Oregonian. Thats just excessive.
We played kickball for about a half hour. It was really fun even though my team lost. I wasn't really sad about it though because I scored a one of our two runs, so at least I didn't look like a loser. Then a few of the girls from my class bought me Starbucks. Which was also pretty sweet.
After the class was over, my day continued on into a haze of sun, laughter and light work. Once 7 o'clock rolled around, my good friend Kristi stopped by the pool and invited me to another good friends birthday barbeque, which was going on in the park just then. By the way - Happy Birthday Roman. So I ate a few hot dogs and shared a few drinks in the park with some old high school friends.
After the barbeque, I headed out to catch the Team Friendship game that was going on. Team Friendship - if you don't already know - is a CHS/Central/*etc* based indoor soccer team thats competes in a league out in Clackamas. I know a few people on the team so I had made some promises earlier about attending the match. I show up to find the game well underway with Team Friendship up by three. They ended up with the victory with the final score of 9-6.
My one of my workmates and friends, Kevin, is on the team. We ended up talking for a little bit after the game and decided that we didn't want to go home just yet. We went in search of some food and found oursleves in the Wendy's parkinglot doing cookies and spilling our drink's all over the floor of Kevins minivan.
Once we had begun eating, Kevin made the mistake of offering up the wheel to me. Bwaha.
So we ended up halfway to Gresham, I believe it was, when Kevin suggested we go on a road trip to Hood River. I agreed, of course, and we started the journey back to the Indoor Soccer arena to pick up my car to e dropped off.
We had been on the road for about 20 minutes when some crazy drunk girl started blowing up Kevins cell phone claiming that se was at some party drinking and she needed Kevin to come "hang out". So, basically, this chick was booty calling Kevin for about a half an hour. He claims she is gross, though, so I didn't feel bad about holding my man back from the opportunity to, well, get some.
So, we were cruising along the highway running along the river into the Gorge when we looked up and noticed Crown Point. We took the exit onto the Historical ( aka crappy) Highway To head on up there. We drove for what seemed like an hour on this dark deserted stretch of road until we finally got up to the point.
It ended up being a nice night, clear enough to see the moon, which lit the part of the River that was not already illuminated by the glow of the city. We talked about soccer and airplanes while continually joking about sending Kevin's keys sailing down into the dense forest hundreds of feet below. We walked around and spoke shortly to a bunch of drunk kids also enjoying the scenery.
We eventually grew bored and headed back to the van. On the way home we passed at least 5 poor souls that had been pulled over for god knows what.
I ended up back home around twelve-thirty, ready to finish off the wonderful day on the chillest way I could imagine. So I went back out into the night and burnt one down whilst checking my voicemail to make it look like I was actually talking on the phone, something I commonly do outside once it gets past a certain time in order to not wake everyone up in the paper-thin building I call home.
I came back inside, changed into my pyjammas, popped in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas...and now here you find me. At the end of a day that is one in which I hope has set the tone for the rest of the season. Tonight I will fall asleep with a smile knowing that today was not thrown to waste, like the waste that has been the past few weeks of my life. It's a good feeling. Goodnigh all. Goodnight.

emo sucks

 

So, today was just another one of those days, that is, pretty much just like all the others. Nothing exciting enough to mention about work. Oh, except the fact that I conned my assistant manager, whom is in charge of scheduling, into buying me and the whole evening staff Popeye's chicken for covering some measly 1 1/2 shift for another staff member. Yeah, am I good? I'm good.
Anyways, I had originally made plans tonight to attend a CD release party/show in which one of my friends from high school's band was playing at. Well, I wouldn't necessarily call him a friend...more like a friend-of-a-friend with whom I rode the bus with quite often and went to Homecoming with my Junior year.
The plan was that I would meet two of my better friends there around 8 and I would stay until around 9:15, I was then going to meet some work friends to see the movie Dodgeball.
So I call my friend Jay, whom I assumed was there, in order to find my way to the venue in which this whole shindig was going down. Of course, he gave me some bogus directions, so I had to take a shot in the dark guessing where it actually was. Luckily I found the place without too much trouble. Once I parked and found my way to the door, I called up my friends once more only to find out that they had left because the other bands that were playing 'sucked' and our friends band wasn't playing til 9:30 -- 15 minutes after I had planned on leaving. So I was a little disappointed, but I thought "Oh well, I can still go in and check it out. It really can't be all that bad."
Before I was going to venture in, I strolled over to the side of the building to call one of my work friends to let her know I wouldn't be needing a seat saved at the movie due to the fact that I had enough time now to get there before it started, and while I was in the middle of my conversation some Goober whom I recognized from high school walks up to me and asks me to move over to the front of the building because apparently 'people loitering on the side of the building disrupts the bands'. Like I was some groupie trying to 'get in' with these super cool bands that were going to play at this super crazy show. I just looked at him and said flatly, "Excuse me?".
So, he repeats himself in this 'oh-so-important' tone of voice, and I just replied "Didn't you go to Cleveland?", again very flatly and completely disregarding what he had said. He mumbles some form of 'yeah', taking the hint that I wasn't going to 'stop loitering' and that I wasn't too concerned about 'disrupting the bands' and walked off in a somewhat defeated manner.
Once I was off the phone, I walked back up to the door ready to go in, when it hit me that I really didn't know why I was still there. I turned around and just glanced over all the 'hardcore indie kids' that were chillin out on the sidewalk, smoking their cigarettes and talking about bands and whatever indie kids were supposed to talk about, and I just felt like such a tool. Not because I was blonde and was wearing A+F jeans (mind you I was wearing a Saddle Creek shirt), but because everyone around me looked exactly the same. The experience, in my eyes, could easily have been paralleled to walking into a Frat party and scanning the crowd for a friend. Except, of course, these kids, although as trendy if not moreso than the usual frat scene, were pretentious, chic assholes...as opposed to meatheaded, loud assholes.
I'm not trying to hate on anyone, I myself am extremely into that scene. I take my music very seriously, I would rather listen to a band no one knows about than something popular, and my confidence in the quality of music that I listen to results in my disapproving of anyone who 'sells out' (for lack of a better term) or who listens to 'emo' because they play it on the OC.
But give me a break. Everyone there had black or partially black hair, which or course was falling into their eyes. They were all sporting some vintage shirt or merch from some obscure band. All of their pants were too tight, or they had on a skirt with boots, and they all were wearing either some chucks or some weird pair of uncomfortable looking shoes. These kids had to have put WAY more thought into their image than any prepster I know. And that upset me. I actually felt embarrassed to be there. The whole indie rock scene can be such fagotry sometimes, and I'm not talking about the punkers who rock out to NFG or Thursday, I'm talking about the people who think they're SO above that and they're SO real. Newsflash: you're just as much of a dusch as him or me or the kid across the street. Get over yourself. Defining yourself to that extent just limits the amount of potential and openmindedness that is apparent of you by others. I guess people just can't realize sometimes their own triviality.
On a lighter note, Dodgeball was pretty good. It delivered what it promised and offered up some worth-repeating dialogue. Overall it was really just another Ben Stiller movie, but I have to say I do plan on owning a copy someday.
Nobody makes me bleed my own blood. Nobody.

Like Snow, Like Gold

 

Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourself.

Choose your future.

Choose life.

If you hadn't already guessed it, I am watching the movie Trainspotting at the moment, and what a good movie it is. It really has an interesting message if you choose to listen. I guess you can take what you will from it.
Anyways, on another note, I have been feeling so mixed up lately. Today, all day, I had the craving for hot cocoa and snowcones like it was the middle of January. Everytime I look out my front window it feels strange to me not to see orange, yellow and brown blanketing my yard. Instead, the days are long and bright and the lawn seems greener and greener everytime I look at it. The flowers are shedding thier petals and my cats are shedding all over my clean laundry. Ahh summer.
My theory on why I've been having such contradicting feelings lately, now that I've been sitting here contemplating it for a few minutes, is that I really have no expectations for this summer. Seriously. All I know is that I'm working, I'm going on the annual week-long yachting trip with the fam, and my mother and I will be hitting up Vegas sometime in August. Oh, and I finally got my Warped Tour ticket...not that I have a clue who I would be going with. Honestly, I would be content flying solo seeing as the only person with whom I share a similar taste in music with has lost their sense of God-given free will. But thats another long and tedious story I care not to share unless deemed completely neccessary.
So, other than that pathetic list, I am utterly plan-less for the summer. Hooray. The really sad part is that I am completely apathetic about it. I like my friends. I like my job. My vacation will be fun. But nothing is new and for some reason I feel out of place here. Like I have moved on.
If I'm lucky, July will come along and bring something new and exciting for me. If I'm not, at least I'll have a tan.

Commence The Summer

 

So I think my summer has finally started. If you don't believe me, I have the mosquito bites to prove it. Contrary to popular belief, yachting does have some drawbacks, but I suppose I will discuss those at a more appropriate time.
Due to the fact that this is my first entry, I feel as if I should speak on why I am starting this whole 'having a website' thing. I really would like to start some sort of journal, anything that keeps me writing and away from the television. I've never really been able to keep up anything on paper, I just lose interest too quickly, mainly because I get absolutely no feedback whatsoever. Also, I feel that the whole LiveJournal scene is for middle-schoolers and high-schoolers that have had an account since middle school. So, I decided to check out this whole Blogger thing.
One of my good friends that I met at U of O whom you may be acquainted with - Mr. Donnie Jeter - runs a Blog site (check it out) which I am lead to believe is quite popular. A fine website by a fine young man. This is what inspired me to start one of my own using Blogger as the host. I also have another site in the making hosted by Asian Avenue. I'm going to keep that one up for the simple fact that I love Asians - well, most Asians - and I feel honored to be part of something that they have created. I also have a friend that goes to UP who is into web design, so he is helping me personalize my site, which is pretty cool. Beyond the AIM world, my web-savviness is pretty lacking and I take any help that I can get. With this site and the one at AA I hope to build up some cyber-street cred before the internet engulfs the world... which will happen if we don't over-pollute or over-populate it first.
Anyways, as you can assume, this site is new and you must allow much room for me to improve it. I am open to any suggestions and constructive criticism that you may have to offer, and you are free to make fun of me at any time for any stupid mistakes I make. Thank you for checking it out and please comment, it makes me feel special.