Tiny Bubbles …

Do you ever have those days where nothing seems to go your way? That’s been my work life for the last 2-3 days. Thursday was intensely frustrating. So frustrating, in fact, that I frequently asked myself, “what the fuck am I doing here?” It was one of those days. And it made me take stock of my current place in life. I quickly began running down all the major events that had brought me to where I am: graduating high school then college, melissa, trips to France, London, Iceland, getting married, Briggs, Tucker, … All the important events and activities in my life. I quickly realized that I have it good — that all my major events easily out weigh one day of crap.

It was my drove home that night which helped reaffirm my faith in civilization. Despite having nothing to do with civilization or people. Check that blurry picture. What you see there is a field I drive by twice a day. It’s about halfway through my journey to or from work. This is Bridge Street, a road that cuts between rt 117 and rt 2. It can be pretty busy with commuter traffic. But that night around 7:30pm (yes, I worked until at least 7pm that day. Ugh), I saw a sight that made me pull over. In the field, in that blurry pic, were 12 deer. Just chilling. Eating grass and enjoying life. It made me realize that the little shit is just that.

Of course, Friday at work was 8 hours of mind numbing frustration. I left work essentially raging. For most people, it would have been an appropriate occasion to hit happy hour HARD. Instead, I got home for a dog walk and BBQ tofu. Not sure how the wife knew, but a favorite dinner and a fun walk was all I needed to snap out of a mind grueling funk.

We had a great weekend and I was ready to attack Monday with vigor. Up early for a dog walk and a great iced soy latte. The wife is a pro. And I stumbled upon a grail on ebay. A NDS pair of Savier Trainer Lux Brazils in my size! And for WAY less then any site has been offering recently (like 1/6th that price). But upon getting to work, I’m greeted by angry “you broke the build” emails and instant messages. I barely had my jacket off before people were breaking down my door.

Back to tiny miracles. 3 people backed me up in our weekly meeting, saying how they gave me false information on Friday, saving me some face. Things all started to turn around. To top it all off, after I took a power walk to blow off steam, I hit up Starbucks. I was chatting with the dude who my wife calls my “barista boyfriend.” We were discussing the usual shit: weekends, weather, … you know. He rang up the lady in front of me, grabbed a cup for an iced latte for me, continued to tell me stories, and then rang up the guy behind me. The money in my hand never left my hand except to go back in my pocket. Yes, that’s right. Free.99.

Ok, this has surely devolved into a crappy Livejournal post, but it was semi-therapeutic for me. Hopefully you weren’t too bored and could actually make sense of my ramblings. Until next time. Peace!

The First Step – Connection EP – Rivalry Records #028 – 2008

The First Step have been a staple in hardcore for many years now. The first time I remember seeing them was way back in 2002. It was this big show at the Knights Of Columbus in Wallingford, CT. I can recall Fred and Ashley being up front losing their shit. And almost everyone else was just standing back soaking it all in. Like everyone had this common thought, “holy shit, this band is going to be something big.” At least that’s what I was thinking. More likely, kids were probably too busy trying to confirm internet rumors or talking shit to enjoy this experience. Sad. Sad because The First Step was mind blowing that day. It didn’t hurt that they were playing before Champion and What Feeds The Fire. Aram and Fred were in the same room soaking it all in. Where was Greg? Wack.

I think it is safe to say that this album is my favorite release by The First Step so far. Yes, very safe to say. This album grabs me and makes me want to stage dive and finger point. It follows up nicely to their other albums, but something about it straight sticks out. Could it be the melodies or Steb’s heart felt lyrics or maybe the influence of Fred, Aram and Greg? Maybe. Something about the album is just that appealing to me. Not sure what, but it’s there. I can see kids losing their shit to these songs.

I love that every song clocks in at less than 2 minutes. That’s the sign of a great hardcore song. Now this next statement isn’t a negative. You’d think coming from me, it would be a negative, but I swear it is not. This album appears to have more of a religious feeling towards it. Not some “I love Jesus” tunes, but a definite Krsna/Buddhist undertone. Take Learn To Trust for example. The song isn’t over the top spiritual, but you can see the metaphors used are pulled from krsna/buddhism (life is an illusion …). It doesn’t take away from the album, but rather enhances it as the message is super positive.

I can dig this album. I suggest you go to Rivalry Records and order this EP now. Kyle throws in a digital download too so you have no excuses. Do this. Now.

ps. How’s that Mr TFS?

Christmas Has Balls!

Oh, you know me. Walking around the mall again, here are a few new snaps. Notice the Santa Village is in the location where the usual Santa scene goes. This joint is WAY more elaborate though. And now the ball pit has extra christmas to it. You’ll notice all the palm trees disappeared. Of course, the beanie baby kiosk was bumped elsewhere. Boooo.

Also, thanks to Easter being a chocolate holiday, I scored these sweet tarts for HELLA cheap. The entire edible content of the pic below cost $3.19, courtesy of post Easter sales and a “buy one, get one” Coke Zero sale. Sweet.

I love holidays.

MALL Madness

Not March Madness, but rather, MALL Madness. Here’s the story.

Thanks to getting a great dose of Bark Busting, I ended up driving into work later than normal. When I arrived, I was greeted by cones blocking my parking lot entrance. I normally park in the mall lot and walk over. It makes it easier to leave in the evening. So I had to park further back in the mall lot.

The cones were set up because there was some sort of construction going on. A giant tent was being erected where I normally park. Who knew?

I normally park in the area where I’m taking this photo from.

I found out later that this tent was being erected for catering. Catering for a film being shot in the mall. I learned that Happy Madison is producing a film starring Kevin James called Mall Cop and they chose to shoot some scenes in the Burlington Mall.

Of course, this movie is set during Christmas so the mall got dressed up last night.

I walked through the mall yesterday. No Xmas. Today, Xmas Xplosion. The Easter station is still set up for pictures with the rabbit. I doubt they’ll be able to put up the Santa Village.

If you know me, you know I hate when they put up decorations before Thanksgiving. This is WAY before Thanksgiving. As my way of sticking it to the mall, I’m parking in between the juice bar and meat carving station tomorrow. If anything cool goes down, I’ll try to get pics.

Peace.

Ever start a project and never finish it?

Back in Summer 2005, I bought a pair of sneakers off a kid in California. I think I paid $60 for them. Shipped. They were a pair of brown pack Nike SB dunk lows. When I got them, I was bummed on the skimpy tongue. I wanted a FAT tongue. So I thought I would try my hand at customization.

My original plan was to make a poor man’s Slam City dunks. Bleach out the dark brown, and color the toebox, swoosh and lace stays black. I immediately go to work bleaching the kicks and bought the black Rit. Almost 3 years later, the Rit still has not been applied. And I have still never worn these sneakers.

Here are some more pics.

They are my unfinished sneaker project. What is even more funny, is that I have some bottles of angelus paint somewhere, and I spent many evenings in my cold ass basement painting a pair of blazers. But I can’t find one evening to smear Rit all over these sneakers.

So the question remains, should I finish this project or call it “good enough?” Actually, they are sort of growing on me now.