Speed Racer

Eric decided to race Mike in little motorized kid cars. And lost miserably.

Missing Mikey

My nephew Mikey has an infectious personality. Here he is laughing his ass off.

multi-tasking

Missing Sydney

This was taken at my going away party for Sydney. She's been gone for a couple weeks now, and although I've dealt with her parting...I still miss her a whole bunch.

foot tattoo x2

Indecisive.

I've been tossing this around for the last few weeks. Maybe it's time to pack in this blog. I've peeled back all the fun stuff, like me talking about silly TV shows or about how I want to bang Holllywood starlets and moved all that wisdom (somewhat) over to Poison Scooter: The Blog. That left this blog to become a place that I talk about my daily struggles with the human race and ocassionally post photos from my pursuits. And since I'm paranoid about people from work reading this nonsense and it having an effect on my life, I've been forced to surpress my true thoughts and feelings about a lot of things making the point of this "diary" kind of pointless.

Over the last month or so I've limited my posts dramatically and as a result most likely bored my faithful readers. As a fan of blogs, I usually go to the one's I like every day and when they aren't updated it makes me angry and frustrated. So I feel like I'm letting folks down by not posting for 3 or 4 days in a row. And when I do post it's usually nothing very exciting.

I'm settling in to my golden years here in Georgia. I work. I spend time with the same crew of people drinking beer and sitting by the pool. I've turned my love life around and appear to have found happiness in the most unlikey candidate, one that I really don't want to talk about too much in cyberspace. (I've jinxed so many relationships in the past by endlessly divulging them here I feel.) My new attitude is...if you want to know how I'm doing, then call me and find out. Or email me. Or write me a post card. This forum has been so one sided, I tell you everything and I get nothing in return. And I think it has run it's course.

My hope is that my slack ass brother Mike will decide to once again assist me with launching PoisonScooter.com and that in the meantime you will all read the PS blog. I may re-launch this as merely a photoblog, a place to post pictures that I'm happy I took. And I might actually give you a back story about the shot or a story about the person in the picture. Who knows...the camera has remained idle for weeks now. It's been really theraputic to have this outlet for the last couple of years. I regret none of what I've written. Thanks for reading...

The Weekend

Pretty good weekend for a change. I didn't do much, but spent some quality time with a cool chick just getting to know each other better. Watched The Matador on Friday night (not as good as I hoped), Saturday got wasted poolside at Joolie's and yesterday watched 5 hours of Gilmore Girls (the things we do...) and went to see the Descent to close out the weekend. I didn't get much sleep, so it's kind of nice that I'm off today. Recovery time.

Running on Empty

Longest week ever.

Some major stuff happening at work that involves me working at warp speed from the time I walk in there until the time I roll home at quitting time. The scheduling gods have granted me a 3 day weekend this week for which I am extremely grateful. Just one more day of work and then I'm going to spend the long weekend doing as little as possible.

What is making this week slightly longer than usual is that last weekend I managed to hook up with a gal and I'm eager to spend some more time with her. Work always gets in the way of fun, but you gotta have the paycheck if you want to survive. And with my finances where they are, I have very little in the way of wiggle room for entertainment. I'm anxious to hit up The Descent this weekend, but otherwise I am prepared to lay low and chill in the A/C. The heat has been tough this past week and from what I hear it's hot as hell all over the US.

Saying Goodbye

So my party on Saturday night was fun. About 10 people, some wine, some beer and board games. The pictures I took were for the most part poorly lit or just plain terrible. Although the shot below was a definite keeper.

Joolie fell down my steps which was funny.

Asian John and Callie (a gal from work) joined forces to become the most amazing Pictionary team I have ever seen.

The trio of gals, (Callie, Joolie and Amy) won a tough battle between 3 teams in Trivial Pursuit. I know, I know...how the hell did I lose to a bunch of girls, right? Well, let me explain. I took two teammates on who admitted they didn't know shit before I picked them so essentially I was playing by myself. I wanted to challenge myself. Mistake. Thankfully, Sydney (my other teammate was Jordan's friend Alex) won almost all of our wedges for us keeping us in the game the whole time.

I got really drunk. Jordan got really drunk. And the after party was the icing on the cake...just me and a really cool chick doing adult things. Nice.

Today I completed the good bye process by helping Syd and Jordan load up a UHaul full of stuff. And then I hugged my girl one last time. And shook hands with the guy who must now protect her and love her. And that's a wrap. Sniff, sniff.

Party

Tonight I'm having a party. It's been a couple months since my housewarming wine debacle, but this week's special events warrant another go round. Joolie got enagaed to Eric and Sydney and Jordan are moving to Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, so it's a Good Luck party I suppose. I even decorated the place.

I took last night off from hitting the bar to conserve my energy and tolerance for tonight. Being drunk a couple nights a week has lost it's luster for my old bag a bones anyway. From the looks of it, I missed a crazy night though. This guy Dale I know here also has a Flickr account and takes his camera EVERYWHERE with him. Anytime I miss something, like Joolie's proposal at Rancid or a random night at the bar, I get to see what happened through his eyes. And last night it looks like his wife Jenn was getting freaky with the ladies. This chick Consi from Statesboro was in town and the photos of her and Jenn making out are sweet. I find both ladies pretty attractive, so I'm digging it at least. Oh well, maybe next time I'll be there in the flesh.

Usually I would blog this on Poison Scooter, but I'm watching it while writing this, so I'll mention it here. Check out Decades Live on VH1 Classics to see Elvis Costello perform with Death Cab for Cutie, Fiona Apple and Billie Joe Armstrong, it's really good. Elvis does some of their tunes with them, and they do his tunes with him. If you are not a fan of Elvis Costello, go kill yourself.

So yeah, it's party time. I'm gonna eat some dinner soon to get a nice base, and then drink my face off. I'm certain tomorrow I'll have a photo essay of the evening to share...

As requested...Dale's Flickr

Joolie and Eric Join Forces

This is not the clearest picture, I'm guessing camera phone quality, but if you look to the far left you can kind of see a tattooed gentleman on his knee in front of a girl wearing a doo rag. That would be Eric asking my best friend Joolie to marry him on stage at the Rancid show last night in Atlanta. Big thanks to Tim Armstrong for letting Eric pull this off.

Joolie, congrats babe. I love you and wish you the best.

UPDATE: A better view of the big event!

Removed, But Soundly Aware

So much is happening in the lives of those I left behind in Philadelphia that I feel compelled to mention it and explain how strange it is to be in the loop, yet so far away. Since moving away a year ago I've had a cousin get married, a sister drop out of school and attempt to deal with her issues, a brother begin to hit the film festival circuit with his first production, another sister graduate college, yet another sister travel to London for a semester, a best friend get engaged to a wonderful girl, another best friend end his relationship and go into a funk, another best friend decide the time was right to move to North Carolina with his family to start anew, a father retire after 30 plus years working for the same company and a friend finally end his troubled marriage. So many things that I'm just not around to be part of...

But I'm very aware of all of it. When I'm not obsessing over how my life is going here in Georgia, I'm thinking about all the changes happening in the lives of those I care about immensely. All of the beginnings and endings, all the highs and lows are reflected upon more than I probably let on. I'm not much of a phone guy, I don't call people as much as I probably should. Email is not a strength for many of the people mentioned above, which sucks because the written word is my forte. Myspace is more trivial than anything else, a comment doesn't do justice sometimes to the sentiment I need to send.

There is a definite bond you always have with people regardless of circumstances of distance. When I found out my buddy Gabe was moving to NC, I thought about two things immediately. On the one hand I'm stoked he will be closer, offer up a nice free vacation spot for me and will hopefully pursue his dreams of opening a restaurant finally. On the other hand, I was sad to see another friend abandon the city we all learned to love so much. And he is leaving behind the last of the mohicans in Jared, a guy who worries too much about too much instead of just trying to enjoy himself. Then again, this is just an impression I get from very infrequent phone calls and emails. Perhaps I am the one worrying about things I shouldn't worry about.

I'm so proud of my siblings pursuits over the past year. Mike and Crystal, the eldest two behind me, accomplished another successful year of marriage and parenting, a feat that is easily overlooked in this day and age. Their children are growing up so quickly and I can only hope that I live on in their memories when the get older, despite my absence. The next generation of siblings are spreading their wings and soaring to great heights without my constant interference and prodding. Daniel will no doubt owe a huge part of whatever success he has in the film world to my brother Mike for his patience and financial support. God knows that if I was there, I would most likely be the one doing what I had to give him the outlet. The success of any man can be measured in his support from those who almost never reap the rewards. Malia is a college graduate, spending her last summer as a child down the shore and will probably allow Daniel's inroads help her along in the pursuit of her future. Tina is traveling abroad as we speak and loving every moment of living in London. As a guy who traveled to the UK often in my early twenties, I can almost taste the excitement she must be feeling at this very moment. Her time there will change her forever, and hopefully give her the boost in maturity she needs to complete her last year of schooling. Candace, well I wish I could be there more for her as she goes through a rough time. So many in my family have tired of her situation, and this no doubt troubles her deeply. Often times she works so hard at being different and the wild child that she doesn't realize that she can be that person and achieve her goals at the same time. I see so much of myself in her and wish I could help her understand all that she doesn't, but I also respect her journey towards self discovery.

This past weekend I missed an engagement party that I so wish I could have attended. Kevin has become another brother of mine over the past 5 years, and I'm so honored to be representing him in his wedding next year to Noele. The two of them are perhaps the most genuine people I've ever encountered and at times, with my behavior, I suspect that I don't deserve them in my life. I'm a foul mouth, obnoxious, perverse asshole at times and they both overlook that more times than not. Having them visit me here in Augusta was a highlight from the past year and will always rank them aces in my book. I understand that not everyone can mark down a date with Augusta in their vacation book, but to visit me before some of my family has is remarkable to me. I know that they both know that although I wasn't there this weekend, I was drinking to their future together from here.

It's been a very strange ride, this relocation thing. I sometimes feel so isolated, so removed from all that is important to me. I've made connections here, but I'm still searching for that reason to make this my home. And it's hard to do that when so much is happening back home. My brother Dan likes to interpret posts like this and make assertions, so let me put a disclaimer on this for him...THIS DOES NOT MEAN I'M READY TO MOVE BACK. But when he does bring up the concept of moving home, I know that it's because he misses me. And that little boost gives me what I need to make it another week, month, year here in pursuit of my own place in the world.

Trivia Night @ Limelight

For once my ragtag group of local associates got motivated to do something on a weekend night besides sit in the Firehouse and wait for a fight to break out. While sitting in the overcast drizzle pool side yesterday the idea was hatched to attend Trivia Night at the Limelight. My boy Jordan, Syd's old man, used to be a regular there and said it was a pretty fun and laid back time. Basically team's can be any size, the only ask 16-20 questions over a two hour period and you can be out of there by 11 PM even if it goes a little long. Sounds pretty alright to me, so I was eager to check it out. And based on my propencity to know something about everything, the rest of the poolside smokers were also eager for me to go.

The plan called for everyone to meet up about 8 PM to acquire a table, space becomes limited if you don't get there somewhat early. Considering this is a bar, getting there early isn't exactly a bad thing. The team we had planned on fielding last night consisted of the following people and their specialities:

Joolie: Celebrity gossip
Mike: Sports
Erika: Obscure Entertainment
Eric: More than you would think he knows (his words)
Jordan: Punk Rock, Reggae, Sports
Me: Music, TV and Film
Sydney: The runner and scribe for the team.

Prior to game time a bit of drama broke out back at the casa de Eric and it forced us to go with a smaller team. Losing Eric could have proven to be costly, but we were still confident about our chances. And Joolie maintained her position as a player, opting to follow through on her committment rather than address some domestic issues with her beau. This turned out to be a very beneficial move considering that one of the questions was related to the movie Gramma's Boy, a movie Joolie recently watched and loved.

The game play throughout the night was exciting and dramatic. We started out of the gate pretty strong, but somewhere towards the middle we began second guessing our answers and made some slips. Jonas Grumby is the Skipper from Gilligan's Island's real character name, a Whale Shark is the largest fish in the sea and Allen Iverson scored 40 points in his first 4 games as a rookie. What saddens me about this run is that I provided the Professor confidently to the group on the Gilligan's Island question, Joolie and I have been watching tons of Sea Life documentaries and had nothing on the Whale Shark question (the team pushed for the embarassing answer of Tuna) and I'm from Philly and told the team that I never heard of AI performing a feat like that. So now I'm feeling pressure to rebound our team and it's not the best feeling in the world.

Right before halftime we regained our composure, I wound up performing in a music quick answer match with 1 member from all teams and came in second earning us 15 much needed points. And we got a couple of gimmie questions, to give us the illusion we were still in the hunt for first. When the game came to an end, all the teams were told how many points they had to wager on the final question, just like Jeopardy. We weren't in the top three much to our dismay. But we had 195 points to wager and we decided to wager them all and go for broke. The question had us line up country of origin for dog species, and originally we needed to get 4 of 6 without being provided anything but the dog breed. We were confident, both Jordan and Mike are into dogs, but then the host decides to give us the 6 countries of origin and we have to get all 6 matches correct to win. Getting them all right turned out to be easy. Way too easy. That's why every team practically got the answer right. We were done. Toast. At the hands of the trivia master. Fucker.

All in all, this was a good time and I'm anxious to work it into the monthly rotation. The Limelight has cheap beer specials during the trivia contest and the food there seemed alright from what I saw on Mike and Erika's plates. Everyone else was happy about the evening as well, so I should be able to get a couple players to return in the future. I give it 6 months before I'm a trivia night legend in this town.

Hi-Five

So I went out to see a movie with a chick last night. Clerks 2 to be specific. I guess you could say this was a date of sorts, I did ask her formally to come with me and I paid for the movie. The movie was funny, the company was delightful, so why then did I end our evening together with a hi-five in the parking lot?

Why?

Because I'm retarded and have zero understanding of the social dynamics of dating. I can only pray that this particular girl doesn't hold my awkward closing move against me and perhaps chalks it up to "nervousness" on my part.

To decompress from this tragic event, I rushed to the Firehouse bar to discuss the goings on with Joolie and Sydney who both informed me that the hi-five is perhaps the worst thing a guy could do at the end of a date. Although Syd seems to think that this particular girl, who she knows, will not hold it against me. I can only hope she is right.

As scary as dating again is, I'm in desperate need to find some companionship since over the last year I've been dealing with long distance, alcoholism and jesus freakdom when it comes to possible relationships. The girl I went out with is relatively normal and appreciates a lot of the same things I do. Not a drunk. No mention of Jesus. Not living in another state. Well, actually she does live in South Carolina, but that's right across the river 10 minutes away. The reality is that maybe this is the start of something more and maybe it isn't. And if it isn't....I will forever blame the "hi-five."

Shit.

My girl Sydney has been in Texas for the last 5 days giving me a taste of what life will be like without her when she blows Augusta for bigger and better things in Fort Lauderdale at month's end. And man, it tastes like shit. Over the last few months I've been dealing with the slow burn on our relationship since she got herself a boyfriend, but we've managed to hang on by a thread and remain close. The girl is like my rock, we car pool to work and share a lot of ourselves in my tiny Echo. Syd has served as my personal trainer, egging me on to go to the gym each day. And with her gone, I haven't gone once.

Since moving to Augusta I have made friends, but none that rival the strength of my bond with Sydney and Joolie. Dropping down to just Joolie isn't a bad thing, it just means I'll have one less person I can trust, confide in, hang with and more importantly laugh with. Sydney has a propencity for making me feel at ease about myself. When I feel sad, she makes me feel better. When I want to grab some beer and just sing karoake in my apartment, she will gladly duet with her off key voice. When I want to see a scary movie, she will come watch with me and laugh as I scream like a girl.

Life without Sydney. Damn. Thinking about it makes me feel terrible. There will be a void to fill in my life. One that may take some time to fill. Sydney is just that kind of girl.

People On TV Who Are Just Scary To Watch

1. Jason Newsted on Rockstar Supernova
2. David Hasslehoff on America's Sorta Got Talent
3. Evil Dr. Will on Big Brother All Stars
4. Tina on Real World Road Rules Fresh Meat Challenge
5. Tim Gunn on Project Runway 3

I'll make this observation quick. Newsted and Hasslehoff share two things in common, the same hair style being one. The other being the complete and utter lack of anything to say that is memorable. At least those scary freaks called judges on So You ThinK You Can Dance actually make points on ocassion.

Dr. Will is pasty white (as Howie has hilariously pointed out on BB) and completely puffy now compared to his lean and mean earlier stint on BB2. I recall really getting behind Will the season he won, but this time round he just looks kind of pathetic.

Tina is a drama queen. And she annoys the fuck out of me. Please, please, please let her get ousted this week. Please.

Tim Gunn is a robot. Last season Santino did a drop dead inpersonation of Tim most weeks (Andre...) that pointed out this very fact. Now that I'm watching season 2 on DVD and last night caught the first episode of season 3 I'm amazed at how much this guy doesn't waver from his banalities. "Carry on."

Finally...

A weekend in movies I'm looking forward to. Clerks 2 and Lady in the Water are opening this weekend and I'm stoked. My plan is to hit up Clerks 2 Friday night...yep doing the opening night dork thing for my man K. Smith. And sometime over the weekend I plan on catching M. Night's new mindfuck movie.

Here's the thing, I'm very hopeful that these guys are going to get back on track after their recent missteps. Jersey Girl wasn't awful, but not exactly Smith's finest work. And a return to his Quik Stop roots might be just what he needs to put an end to an era and go do something other than find ways to incorporate Jay and dick jokes into a movie. I'm not saying I don't welcome more movies from him in the vein that he has perfected, but I am craving to see him put his mark on something that perhaps he didn't write.

Now Mr. Night is undoubtedly the most innovative filmmaker since Hitchcock, and is a cash cow to say the least. On Stern this morning he was saying he has made 2.5 billion for Disney over his first 4 studio films. Wow. And to be completely fair, I saw The Village only once while almost black out drunk in Chicago with my boy Myers, so I can't really give a solid opinion on the film. I just recall the public expecting more than what was on the screen. And although it too made lots of loot, I suspect critics, the public and of course Disney are all anxious to see if this new film is a return to his roots.

If nothing else, I'm hoping to just be entertained and cool in a movie theater and out of this baking sun.

The Thrill of the Hunt

So today I decided I would do something really off the beaten path and I participated in a local Scavenger Hunt here in Augusta. This gal I know named Wendy threw up the prize money out of pocket and came up with a very challenging list of acquisitions you could get either a photo of or the real thing for extra points. Since my team bailed on me, I went anyway the meet up at noon at a coffee shop downtown and got paired up with a gal named Buffy and her daughter Aurora. Along the way Buffy's boyfriend John got involved making us 4 strong.

Now we didnt' spend the day together, but in the first 2 hours Buffy and I sat down with our list and plotted out the day and got some team photos out of the way. The list was comprised of 100 items, 15 team activities and 25 riddles that had to be solved, the answer being the item you need to get. I can honestly say that when I saw the list I was overwhelmed, this thing was way harder than I thought it would be going in. A quick browse of the 100 items revealed that I had only about 6 at my house. Thankfully Buffy was confident she had a ton of shit, or at least knew someone who had them. The team activities were relatively entertaining, I did the Truffle Shuffle, mooned, busted up a shirt like the Hulk and Buffy did the worm and did a headstand. We decided that when she sent her daughter off to be with Dad we would get the racy stuff done. (The list called for a teammate to be full frontal on camera, a girl team member had to french kiss another chick (Wendy the organizer is a lesbian...if that helps explain.) and at one point John had to mount me like a horse with a cowboy hat on.) So instead we worked at solving the very hard riddles, something that took hours after we parted even to complete.

Upon splitting up, I solved riddles and took photos of stuff in my house for another 2 hours and then ventured about town to gather what I could. All the while keeping phone contact with Buffy and John. The cut off for the hunt was 9 PM at a local watering hole and upon arrival I saw the amount of stuff Buffy and John gathered and was a) shocked that they got so much and b) thought we would win handily. Then I saw the other teams pull up with just as much stuff...

After some tabulation and a cursory review of what we either brought physically with us or had on film, a winner was declared. Sadly, we didn't win. We placed in a solid 2nd place. Not bad for total strangers thrust into this mess, with me having nothing on hand and not really knowing where to find many things in this town. All in all, I took a risk and tried something different and it was a good time. I met some new people, so that's a win in my book. But man am I tired. ZZZZZ.

I Miss Everything.

Last night I went to the local watering hole, got to see a ton of people and drink a couple beers. Everything was going fine, I was having fun, but then on a dime I just felt like leaving. It's this deja vu thing that happens when I do the same thing over and over again. Every conversation appears like one I've had before. All the people will be there the next time I go back to the bar, whether I take a break for 1 week or 3 months. And it's just fucking boring. I need some excitement.

Of course, when I decide to roll out and end my evening something exciting does happen. Apparently Joolie was poking fun at some guy who was getting a beer and he made some nasty remarks about her appearance. Eric, being the good boyfriend, tells the guy to apologize and the dude just cold cocks him. Next thing you know, bar brawl ensues, the bar shuts down 90 minutes early and the instigators, 4 in total, all crawl home bloodied and battered.

And I missed the whole thing. As usual. Not that I would have wanted to be involved in the fight, it's just that anytime a fight does break out at the bar I never seem to be there. When I am there, it's lame. So now I'm convinced it's me. I'm lame and I bring the whole bar down when I'm there.

Men's Vogue

Today in the mail I got a subscription offer for Men's Vogue.

The apocalypse is near.

Ugh.

Weekend, please come quicker. I'm sick of working this week. It's slow as fuck, and idle hands are the devil's work. I probably should be doing some planning for the coming holiday season, but instead I'm wishing I wasn't there all day long. Summer fever? I don't know.

I do know that I long for this weekend to get here. I want to swim. I want to get drunk. I want to take some pictures. I want to relax. I just want a break. Fuck.

New Couch

Biggest news of the weekend for me? I got a great deal on a semi used couch from my buddy Mike and picked it up this evening from his house. It's a year old, from Ikea and it's been garaged for about 6 months now wasting away. Originally $400, Mike let me grab it for $125 and threw in some nice throw pillows to boot. What a guy...

Anyway, I now have room to seat 8 people comfortably in my living room which will come in handy never since I've only had people over to my place one time since I moved in. On the bright side, I can now alternate where I sit when I waste away watching countless hours of boob tube and DVDs.

The new couch is way more comfortable than my old couch and it's a great color, dark grey. And it matches well with my old couch that has been relocated to the other side of the room.

A couple paragraphs about a fucking couch, damn my life is beat.

It's All About Me

Beat ass Friday night and I gotta work tomorrow morning at 7 AM. Bummer. Guess it's Windfall on Tivo and Wolf Creek on DVD for me tonight. Oh, it's exciting being me....let me tell you.

Since I mentioned a couple weeks ago that on my visit home I had the opportunity to lay down some vocals on my brother Dan's track Pretty Baby, I thought I would let you all go hear how it turned out. Dan put up the track on his Myspace profile at my egotisical insistence.

If you are wondering why I have reduced the amount of posts on this here blog, let me remind you that I'm now doing this Poison Scooter blog with Joolie to get out my thoughts on the entertainment world. I suggest to overlook my need for 2 fucking blogs, and just bookmark that shit. The call has gone out for contributors who want to spout out whatever about whatever, but it's like the fucking presidential election or something...nothing but apathy out there from the kids. So for now, Joolie and I press on and try to make you chuckle, consider something to listen to or let you know how sad our TV choices are. And it's free.

It's the freaking weekend baby, go have some fun.

Year One

This past weekend marked the 1 year anniversary of my move to Georgia. As I've been prone to saying the last couple of days while intoxicated, this 4th of July weekend had to be better than last year's considering that last year I was sitting in a lawn chair in my new empty apartment watching the fireworks from my window talking on the phone to a girl back in Philly wondering if I had made the right decision to relocate. Well, as it turns out this year was better. Thank God for that.

Tonight I went to a guy's house over in South Carolina for a get together that pretty much grouped all the people I've met here the last year all in one location. Joolie and Eric opted out, so I was flying solo and although I didn't drink I had a pleasant enough time. I've met some interesting people to say the least in the past year, lots of people I would have never met had I not moved to this place.

Am I where I want to be after a year here in Augusta? Not exactly. I wish I had met someone better to have a relationship with, but I am happy that my cold streak ended upon moving here. It would be nice to have someone in my life to lean on when the going gets rough. Professionally, not all the opportunities I thought would come my way by moving have come into fruition, but more or less I'm content with my role at the company. Financially I'm a mess, and that is my big beef right now. I've spent a shit ton of money moving here, traveling back to Philly a few times, and I've got to curtail that shit and get myself right in that department. And getting a roommate would help, a task that is clearly easier said than done based on my tepid response to the offer I've put out on the Augusta word of mouth trail.

As year one comes to a close, I would have to rate last year a solid B. Bring on year two.

Here's some shots from the weekend and a link to the set. Happy viewing...






Photos

Independence Is Mine

Ah, the fireworks, the cook outs, the liberty. Yep, it's the big 4th of July holiday weekend. Two realities face me this weekend.

1. I have 4 of the next 5 days off from work.
2. I'm broke as a bad joke.

Coming off of my trip back home last week, I spent pretty much my bi-weekly allowance already and pay day is 6 days away. As such, I'm pretty much fucked as far as getting involved with any costly ventures this weekend. But right now I have this desire to get myself back into the mix here in Georgia and socialize a bit. My hermit like nature since I moved out of the downtown area has put me in a situation that I need to change. Howard Stern and his wacky crew have become my closest friends and I'm starting to dream of the show in my sleep now. (Sad.)

Don't get me wrong, Joolie and I are still tight but she is working tonight and tomorrow night until midnight taking her out of the mix for social options. What I know of happening this weekend has potential...

This guy is turning 30 and having party tomorrow night. My old boss who is heading back to NYC for a new work option is having a party also on Saturday night. This means BYOB and a place to hang out, i.e. relatively cheap.

Sunday there is a Rockabilly show that this chick on Myspace cannot stop sending out bulletins for. It's a day show and in the worst venue in the tri-state area, but it might be entertaining.

Monday I have work. Boo.

The 4th...well the 4th this year can't be any worse than last year when I knew NO ONE here and watched fireworks from my window while on the phone with a girl back in Philly lamenting that I might have made a terrible decision to move south. Jenn and Dale, a skinhead couple that I socialize with sometimes, are having a BBQ over in SC and that might be the way to go considering again, BYOB and a place to chill.

The only problem I forsee is that drinking and driving are a dangerous combo, and everything requires wheels. No word on any action at Joolie and Eric's pool this weekend, but I definitely will push the issue when I head to the bar tonight to hang with Eric. Yep, I'm gonna hit the bar up tonight and most likely spend what little money I have left to squander. Too bad my fridge is empty...but then again, I could drop a couple pounds.

Enjoy your holiday weekend.

The Weekend in Pictures

The rest.

Nightmare Journey

I was dropped off at the airport around 2:20 PM yesterday by my Stepfather. Considering that I checked US Airways.com ahead of time to see that my 3:25 PM flight was already pushed back 20 minutes I thought I was going to make it to the gate without a problem. Anymore most airports have self service kiosks making the process extremely painless. Unless of course your name cannot be found in that little machine and you are instructed to see a representative.

Yep, I wasn't able to get my e-ticket and had to resort to figuring out how to "see a representative" without getting in a huge line that wasn't moving very quickly at all. I checked the board and saw that my flight was delayed until 4:24 PM now, so I guess I could have waited in the line for my turn, But that's no fun. I played dumb and approached one of the self service kiosk luggage handlers and said the machine was saying weird stuff and I didn't know what to do. After a five minute period of silence while he typed furiously on his little keyboard and I stared at the massive amount of people cramming into this lobby the agent very deadpan says "your flight was cancelled." Huh? Cancelled?

So what's the plan now, I ask. The agent informs me that the next flight is 8:30 PM at gate F13 and that I will need to check in at the gate to obtain a seat. Great, it's 3 PM and I'm sitting in the airport waiting for an 8:30 PM flight, sounds exciting. Between the hours of 3:30 and 6:30 I occupied myself just fine with my laptop until the juice ran out. I wandered around looking for an outlet to plug into and crawled up under a pay phone with my luggage to suck up some power. All this time there was no gate agent, so I couldn't check in and obtain my seat which made me uneasy. Oddly enough at around 6:50 PM an old roommate of mine from college, Charlene, began walking down the corridor straight at me backpack in tow. I thought for a moment this waiting period had made me delirious and I was imagining her presence, that was until she grabbed me and gave me a big hug. Charlene was returning from Ethiopia by way of Montreal by way of Frankfurt and was more worn out that I was due to her travels, and so we spent a good 15 minutes small talking and comparing battle scars related to our travels with airlines.

After this little surprise run in, I went back to the gate with just enough power on the lap top to make it through a viewing of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which I had packed for the return flight. I finally saw an agent at my gate and proceeded to check in for my seat assignment. It's now 7:20 PM and the flight is supposed to board at 8 PM, so I figured I should get cracking on making sure I have my boarding pass. It was at this point that I'm told I am on standby, a tidbit the initial agent left out. Yikes. You mean there is an opportunity that I will miss making this flight too? Holy shit.

The next 40 minutes were spent panic stricken, waiting for the boarding call to go out and to see how many people show up for the flight, Considering that my flight was cancelled earlier in the day, I was expecting a problem with seats i.e. not enough to go around. After about 14 people make their way on board, the gate agent calls my name and gives me a ticket. I guess she was just torturing me after all. The plane was less than half full, and so I made my way on safely at about 8:05 PM eager to finally get out of the airport and up in the air. I was so excited that I texted my brother Dan to let him know that I was officially on a plane. Yeah!!!

While waiting for the luggage to be loaded on the plane, the pilot chit chats with the gate agent and eventually makes an announcement that the luggage cart next to our plane doesn't appear to be our cart of luggage. So now we are waiting for the right luggage to be located and swapped. And if you are familiar with Philadelphia International you know that the workers there work at a pace somewhere between a sloth and a snail at all times. Once this problem is rectified we push off from the gate at roughly 9 PM heading towards are runway. As expected the snafu with luggage put us 7th on the take off list and we wouldn't be getting airborne until about 9:20 PM the captain tells us. What blows about this situation is that we are not able to listen to Ipods/watch DVDs until we are airborne and the delay is forcing me to keep my lap top on but sleeping. At this point I was just about out of my mind from not eating and just sitting prone for hours on end. I wanted to disappear in the Eternal Sunshine!

I think it was shortly before this estimated time of 9:20 PM that the captain informed us that the runway we were scheduled to use for take off was being closed by air traffic control due to weather. This means we are now in a situation where they have to reroute our flight from another take off location and put us back in line. The captain's estimate was about another 20 minute delay, but he renigged on that information about 10 minutes later when he said the following "um, air traffic control has informed us that there between 20-25 planes ahead of us for take off and as a result we are going to turn off the engines to conserve fuel. At this time feel free to break out your cell phones if you want, however I don't have a good estimate of when we will actually get airborne this evening."

Oh my God. It's 10 PM and I've now officially been waiting to leave Philly for 8 full hours. That's a work day. And I'm still not gone. So I decided to bury myself in Eternal Sunshine and not worry anymore, however the juice I gave my computer turned out to leave me in a position to not see the final 20 minutes of the movie. Dead battery. And we are still on the ground. I think at this point I decided that I was not making it to work today. Considering it's close to 11 PM and that the flight is 90 minutes long and then I have about an hour and fifteen minute drive home from the airport, there is no way I'm making it up at 6:45 AM for work.

Eventually we get up in the air about 11:15 PM and push it back to Columbia, arriving at about 12:40 AM. Wow. 10 plus hours via airplane, and now I have to drive home hungry as hell and tired as can be. I toyed with the idea of getting a hotel room in Columbia, but I couldn't find one. The airport location is oddly tucked away from civilization and nothing was open in the airport to direct me to the nearest hotel, so I said fuck it and made the drive home. A quick stop at Dunkin Donuts was the only further delay on this incredible journey. I got home at 2 AM, and it was at this point that I realized had I just driven back I would have been home 1 hour earlier.

I guess the moral of this story for me is that US Airways is a terrible airline. Down here they refer to them as US Scareways, and I think I finally figured out why. My flight up to Philly didn't take off until after I was supposed to land and the trouble with the return trip detailed above is enough to scare me off from booking another trip on them again. I guess they get points for getting me home safely though? And I am home. And I will be all day long.

A Place Called Home

Home is more a group of people than an actual place for me these days. I realized that this weekend while spending some time with my family and friends at various old houses and haunts. It wasn't until the 3rd day of my long weekend that I set foot into my childhood home and the place looks more and more unfamiliar to me every time I do check in. Every trace of my childhood is gone, covered in white and erased forever. It makes me feel old seeing everything modernized; old and sad I suppose. I miss rusted metal railings outside, I miss a drop ceiling in the basement that drops on your head one tile at a time and I miss having a small, yet basic yard. Improvements are naturally needed, but perhaps the direction of the improvements are not my taste and therefore leave me feeling like a stranger in a strange land there anymore.

Thankfully, I visit not to watch my old house get systemically reshaped into Little Italy, but to spend time with those that can reaffirm my identity and make me feel less like a lost soul. And this weekend was in general a good time from start to finish. Well, considering I'm waiting in the airport for an 8:30 PM flight since my 3:30 flight was cancelled, the end is a little shaky. But all in all I think I enjoyed myself more than I have in a while on a visit home, got to see the people I wanted to see and can venture back down South with the resolve that everyone is how I left them and doing more or less just fine without me around.

Friday night, a simple game of poker with my old wrecking crew hit the spot. Gabe is ready for his move to North Carolina, impressed with my decision to move but still worried more about me than he should. Justin is loving his job and seems to be content with his marriage failing, knowing he tried harder at saving it than anything he's ever done. Sugar Swane has gotten another protege under his mighty wings, still battling his music demons but ever so slightly forging on towards normalcy by buying a home for the first time at 42. The Weasel, well he stays the same...and that's how I like it. Disappearing at the end of the night on his road bike for the shitfaced 15 mile ride is his m.o. and he didn't disappoint. Jared is someone I wished I had more time to spend time with, but we are working on a Universal Studios trip for the late summer/early fall that will be plenty fun. In the meantime, I hope he remains positive about his situation and eats something for fuck's sake. Although I wasn't a winner, the night was full of laughs and good conversation, the perfect way to start things off this time around.

Saturday was devoted to my cousin Todd's wedding out in Royersford at the Spring Ford Country Club. I made zero effort in the wardrobe department, looking more or less like a rockabilly star in my Ben Sherman short sleeve shirt, work man's pants and Doc Martens. I'm just not willing to be restricted in a suit anymore in my life, and it's a rule I hold firm to despite the glances I get from others. The wedding itself was your basic formulaic variety, nothing outrageous took place. Considering all of my family was staying at the same hotel not too far from the country club, everyone got very drunk and thankfully all behaved. My good buddy Kevin used the event as an opportunity to ask me to be a member of his wedding party, an honor I accepted without hesitation. I shared a room with 3 of my sisters and only vomited after breakfast the next morning, so we'll call this one a win for me. Especially since I'm the eldest and by far the member of the family with the most worn out liver at this point. Cousin Todd was seemingly shell shocked the entire event, but we had some good words and it was nice to see him look happy for a change.

Sunday was a BBQ at Brother Mike's house in honor of my sister Candace's birthday and culminated in a raucous game of Cranium with friends at Mike's gigantic dining table. Although my team didn't steal the victory, we didn't come in last. That spot was reserved for the cockiest participant, the lovely Audrey who boasted about her victory from the prior week and practically guaranteed another prior to team selection. Noele, Castagna and the birthday girl snatched the victory from Mike, Shawn and myself. The cap of the evening was a viewing of Entourage, followed by my final goodbyes to Kevin, Noele, Audrey and Shawn.

Monday was spent in the recording studio with Brother Dan helping to add some harmony vocals to one of his songs, my favorite of his songs entitled Pretty Baby. The song is pure gold and I was very happy to finally have an opportunity to put something on tape with both of our contributions attached. It's odd to think that we have never musically collaborated considering both of our involvements in the world of music. A very good guy named Mark from the band Silvertide allowed us to use some studio space and helped out engineering for us. The two of us got to share our feelings on the music biz, my perspective is jaded, failed rock star and his is of soon to be jaded, failed rock star, so we had some lively discussions throughout the day. The cap of Monday was a round of bowling at the local Dave and Busters where we started out to get my sister her first taste of being 21. Unfortunately I was wiped out and couldn't hang past midnight, but I was happy to participate in this once in a lifetime event. My sister in law and I represented for old heads everywhere and did our part to try and get Candace on her way to being wasted. Running into an old childhood friend added a special flavor to the night, and Keiran, now a mother and wife, was a ray of light in an otherwise dismal locale like Dave and Busters. Knocking back Jameson and Ginger with a twist of lime, waxing poetically about plants and the merits of sesame oil, she went about making me wish we were closer in age when I was a teenager and that we were better friends then, and now. At least I got to experience a taste of her personality as an adult, something that I will take back with me as another one of life's little moments that make you feel like shit isn't as bad as it could be.

So here I am, sitting in the airport going over the trip in my head. Focused on this post, rather than the lengthy delay I'm facing. Thinking that overall, this weekend wasn't so bad.

Flat Stanley

It's a very rainy morning here in Philadelphia and I just found in my brother Mike's book case a children's book that used to disturb me as a child. Flat Stanley was written in 1964, so how it was presented to me when I was 3 or 4 years old is a mystery. The inside cover has a very cryptic signature from both my sister Crystal and myself, so I'm guessing we were most likely haggling over ownership rights as children. Considering how this book as lingered on in my memory banks, I wish I would have just let her have the damn thing to herself. Why you ask? Well, this book is by far the creepiest book I've ever come across in my life and I think as a child it gave me bad dreams. As an adult re-reading it in five minutes on the can, I can honestly say I'm still disturbed.

The book's theme is tolerance. I guess all kid's books have themes hidden behind clever dogs, or wacky ducks or some shit. This book uses a "flat" child as the outcast and shows all the perks to being flat but the jealousy it causes for others who aren't flat. Hold on, I'm jumping slightly ahead. Forgive me.

So Stanley goes to bed in the same room as his little brother. During the night a cork board falls on top of him while he is sleeping and he is found under it in the AM completely flattened but alive. Crazy premise so far don't you think? So Stanley's parents take him to the doctor and they find out that this type of thing happens all the time. I'm pretty sure it was at this point I started to manifest hellacious thoughts of getting flattened in my sleep. Although the book outlines perks, the drawings of this kid being only 1/2 inch thick are spooky. The next few pages of the book show Stanley being lowered into sewer grates to find Mom's ring, being used as a kite, being rolled up for travel purposes with the parents and most insanely being mailed to California to visit a friend in a giant envelope. Even in 1964 there are jabs about the high cost of airfare in a children's book!

Eventually word catches on about Stanley and his "gift" of flatness. The local art museum has been hit with a rash of robberies, so the curator asks Stanley's parents to let the boy help. Stanley is dressed up like Little Bo Peep and is mounted to the wall like a painting due to his flatness and winds up nabbing the crooks when they try to steal him. Even the celebrity around this event doesn't make Stanley any happier about his situation. His younger brother is jealous of his success and fame, and tries to flatten himself to no avail. Eventually Stanley and his brother conspire to "inflate" Stanley back to normal size using a bicycle pump. And low and behold it works! Stanley is restored to normal size and will take with him the lessons learned from his experience of being flat. I on the other hand only learned to sleep with one eye open to watch out for falling items in my room that may crush me. This book fucked me up as a kid. And I bet it would do the same today...

Here I Go Again

Tomorrow I'm off to Philly for a long weekend of action packed visiting. The lineup looks to favor alcohol poisoning...

Friday Night - Poker with the boys
Saturday Night - Wedding
Sunday Night - Board Games/Entourage Viewing party
Monday Night - Little Sister's 21st B-day

Although there is no confirmed host for the game night event, I'm certain it will come together somehow. And boy am I looking forward to kicking some ass in Cranium. But most of all I'm looking forward to seeing some friendly faces and relaxing. Getting a break from the day to day here is more than welcome at this point.

I'm coming off a nutty work week, so I need to unwind. And by unwind I mean DRINK.

My Baby Brother: Movie Mogul

Last week my brother Dan went to a full fledged film festival in Las Vegas to shop around a movie he produced last year and walked away from the experience with 4K in roulette winnings, a meeting with MTV Films and the interest of the Weinsteins. On the table is the potential to get this little black and white thinker called 4th Dimension into Toronto or Montreal and ultimately a distribution deal with a heavy hitter on the indie circuit. The film won Honorable Mention at Cinevegas, an up and comer on the festival circuit, but more importantly Danny Boy got to share a cab ride with Bobcat Golthwait and bring up his separation from Nikki Cox like a douche bag. Downside to the trip was heading out of town before Beer League, Artie Lange's movie, debuted and the big b-day bash for Dennis Hopper at the Venetian.

Yeah, I know. It's awesome. And I couldn't be happier for him.

Ain't It Cool News review.
Another review.
4th Dimension

Tuckered.

No energy today. None. I had like 5 hours of rough sleep last night and had to be in work at 7 am. As a result, I bailed on work early since I was not feeling 100%. Lucky for me Howard Stern is now streaming online at Sirius.com and I have something to occupy my time as I waste away on the couch.

Inspire Yourself, That's All You Can Do

Lately I have been feeling some sense of blah about everything in my life, hence the infrequent posts on here. I have been taking pictures, but not anything artistic just the same poolside shots of the same people each week. I have been watching way too much television, but not anything actually worth watching honestly. I've pretty much cut out going out socially for the past couple weeks as well, just really bored with the sameness of this town and want to take a break so when I get back out there it feels new again.

Today I ventured to this big flea market to see if I could find anything interesting to buy or if I could find anything interesting to snap photos of. Sadly I came up empty on the creative front, but I did walk out of there with an ashtray that is looks like a peice of wood, a couple of "southern flavored" gifts for my kin folk and a nice funny toy that will be going to a friend here in GA to make him laugh. Perhaps I'm getting accustomed to the oddness of this place because I didn't find walking through a flea market all that strange. The people seemed almost regular and therefore not picture worthy. Dang.

So, how do I fill the void of creativity I am finding myself in? Well, last night I had an epiphany of sorts and ran it by Joolie who was down with the concept. Essentially I want to launch Poison Scooter as not only a tee shirt company, but as a website devoted to Entertainment. I'm talking about meshing Stereogum with Pink Is The New Blog with Reality Blurred with Star Magazine and creating a brand. The idea is to give both Joolie and I an outlet for a writing that is not of a personal nature, perhaps expand our network and recruit other talented people we know with something to say and then use the site as a way to promote our original tee shirt designs devoted to the next great website on the world wide web. Sounds ambitious right?

Keeping in mind that we have only been working at this for 24 hours, the foundation to which we will build upon is located here. I am anxious to hear some feedback about what we are doing, and would love to hear from anyone that reads this trash that might be interested in contributing to the cause. I'm lucky that I have some very smart and funny talents in my circle of friends, and I want to involve as many people as possible to make this something worthy of checking out each morning over that first cup of coffee, right after you check your myspace profile for new comments.

Listen to this...

Mid Week Chill

Another Wednesday off. Last night I stayed up through the worst of the hurricane weather until about 2 AM doing nothing of importance. Today was one of those "no plans" types of day. I had some more gear to buy for the big work decorating thing, and so a trip to Dollar Tree was in order first thing. I dropped $50 on "beachy" stuff like flip-flops, big sunglasses, shovel/pail combination, beach mats, stuff like that. Funny story about this excursion. Apparently Dollar Tree doesn't accept credit cards. I mean they accept Visa, but just not a credit card. Only debit cards. I find this out after I just rung up $50 on the company dime right? I am packing the corporate card for my shopping this week and so I had to reach into my own money now for this stuff. Amazing. I'm sure a reimbursement will be possible, but I also bet it will be weeks before I see the loot.

After the shopping trip I rolled to Joolie's house for some mid-afternoon vegging out. We watched another ocean life documentary and were enthralled. Well, I was. Joolie fell asleep. The girl is narcoleptic for sure. After the documentary, I got to see a program on Dicovery I never saw before. Something about these former crooks who break into your house and then help you better protect it so it doesn't happen for real. Huh? It was odd. And somewhat aggrivating. So I left.

I am now sweating in my house for some reason. Just sitting and sweating. I have a potentail development on the roommate front. At least an email I received today makes me think I do. This chick Elbo is looking for a roommate now as well and she basically said if she doesn't find one by mid-July she wouldn't mind moving into my joint. Sounds fine to me since in the meantime I'm doing nothing to actually find a roommate. The criteria I have for a roommate is pretty simple. Female and either gay or with a boyfriend. Men are dirty. And I'm a neat freak. And the last thing I want is a single girl living in close proximately to me. It's safer for everyone if I find a roommate the doesn't like men or is taken. And luckily Elbo is attached to my local watering hole proprietor Josh and therefore a safe choice. I'll keep you posted on the developments.

I'm ready for my trip home. Lined up a poker night on the Friday I fly in with my boys, Saturday is the big wedding for cousin T-Bone and his lady, Monday night is my sister Candace's 21st. Should be a lot of fun. And man could I use some fun.

Fishy

I've been mandated to leading the "decoration" committee at work for the next 3 months. Can you imagine? The job entails me recruiting a couple of employees who will come up with ideas and what not for activities and themes that we can decorate for at the office. It's not horrible, there is something very elementary school teacher like about the endeavor, but I'm not sure I can pull it off. Tonight I went to Michael's, my favorite craft emporium, to buy supplies for our summer beach motif. Thankfully I brought Syd along to lend me her creative juices. (I recruited her ass to the committe as well...smart move. I know.) The committee cooked up the concept of making an ocean, or a series of oceans on the outer rim of some cubicles, to which we will add sea life created by all the employees. Yep, you read that right. I'm going to force employees to create their own fish or crab or what not using construction paper and stick on eyes. Involve the people is short hand for "I don't feel like hanging up a ton of shit on my own..."

Something tells me I won't be so lucky come the 4th of July.

Howard TV

I cracked. I had some wacky bills coming from Comcast due to my recent move and I had to call them to sort out a situation whereby they said I owed $285 and I wound up with a credit of $26 when it was all said and done. While I was on the phone with them I decided to purchase Howard Stern's In Demand channell for $10 a month. Summer is here, and for the most part television sucks, so I figured this should keep me from being bored on those slow nights.

So far, I'm thrilled with the decision. Howard is in his groove on satellite radio, and watching this stuff is totally different than watching his E! show. No commercials. No bleeps. My only complaint is that I have seen more male nudity than female at this point. It seems like once a week Stern has someone getting their balls waxed for something.

Welcome to the Fun Zone!

Take My Quiz

Brighten Up

In an effort to lift my spirits, I'm going with a brighter appearance here. I'm hoping the cheery effect rubs off on me. And the third column is mind blowing is it not? Let me give you a quick tour...

To the left you have my current favorites in the world of music, television and film. Under that you have a more expanded look at my photos. Over on the right we have my profile, some recent post links, archives and then a couple of links to shit I enjoy. And yes, I am still hawking tee shirts, hence the Poison Scooter link.

There you have it. Feedback welcome, just leave a comment.

Debbie Gibson

Damn, I used to love this chick. I remember when I was in high school dreaming of her all the time. And by dreaming I do mean jerking off. Here I am on a Friday night, no plans, got work at 7 AM tomorrow and I'm watching VH1 Classics. And Foolish Heart by Debbie Gibson is on. And no, I'm not stroking it or anything. I was just taken aback by the memory of how I felt about Debbie so many years ago. And so I'm sharing.

All I Got...

I've been lame lately. I admit it. Nothing new is happening in my life. I could tell you that Benchwarmers sucked, but you can tell from the preview. X-Men 3 was shittier than the last two. But who really cares.

I wrote this long post last night about great albums of the last 25 years and this website took a shit on me and didn't save it. I'm not in the mood to rewrite it, so let me just recap the gist.

The Wolfmother CD is fucking amazing. Go buy it.

Cheyenne

This chick is 15.

Oh.

My.

God.

What kind of 15 year old looks like that?

Summer Funk

I had a conversation today at work with one of my employees Tracy, a great chick, who after hearing me state what my weekend was like flat out said "so you are depressed?" I took a beat, soaked it in and thought about it and finally said "kinda."

I try to avoid thinking in terms like depression, my boy Jared shares a similiar opinion, you start thinking about shit like that and the next thing you know you are a pill popping, rainbow farting robot. But we also agree that it would be nice to have access to a medicine to take when the feelings crop up from time to time. I would say that maybe I need to start smoking pot again, but I remember feeling like this when I was on the pot as well. It comes and goes, and right now it comes.

Friday night I sat and drank beer with my buddy Eric for a touch and eventually hit the sack on the early side. No desire to go do anything else, perhaps a warning sign of sorts? Saturday I woke up and immediately hit the gym and worked out for twice the time I usually spend there, perhaps another signal that I'm not quite feeling so great about shit. Saturday night I went to see the Break Up with a couple, and got the hell out of there the minute I could because seeing a movie about people breaking up and then talking about it with a hand holding couple is just too much. (Sidenote: I liked the movie. Vince is my well documented man crush, and Jon Favs and he are the best duo on screen of the modern era.)

Sunday I basically sat in my apartment and stared into space for hours. I read some. I had no desire to go anywhere. I was further sent down the rabbit hole by not being able to connect to the internet all day and night. Eventually around 4 PM I tired of this wallowing and did what any self respecting human would do in this position....I went to Best Buy and bought stuff I don't need. Not like major appliances or anything, just some headphones, Rob Zombie's Greatest Hits, Wolfmother CD, Blender Magazine and Dazed and Confused on DVD. Ah, now I feel much better.

Not.

The point I suppose I am making is that right now I feel like crap. I don't understand why my life can't be more fulfilling and enjoyable. I have been saying for a while that Augusta is kind of limited, okay extremely limited, but I'm not doing anything about it. I need to be more adventurous, I need to do some travelling. Well, I need to stop talking about it and actually fucking do it. Today at work I was plotting out my next course of action, after my jaunt up North at the end of June I'm gonna plot out some weekend getaways. This pretty killer chick I met online (it's not as lame as it sounds) lives in what appears to be a beautiful part of North Carolina, in the mountains and near this big estate called Biltmore. So destination number 1 will be Asheville, NC. Then I want to be a goober and go to Universal Studios in Florida. Hey, the time I feel the best is when I'm watching a movie and escaping my life, so an entire theme park devoted to film might be a santuary of sorts. And then, who knows? But I gotta keep on moving.

Otherwise, this blog is going to become tragic again. And no one wants that. Well, some of you assholes want that, but I hope to not give you the satisfaction. You know who you are Anonymous.

Dag.

The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with yourself. - Mark Twain

Yeah, today is a bit of a bummer day. I'm not feeling too great about myself. It occurred to me that I cannot recall the last time someone in my life asked me how I was feeling. Someone that I care about anyway. It's not a huge deal, it's just one of those things that pops into the mind when you are feeling kind of shitty or bored. And I probably wouldn't even think about such a thing unless I was as self aware as I am. What I mean is that I am constantly asking my friends how they are doing, asking if there is anything they need, almost to the point of annoyance I suppose. Karma tells me that if you give you will get, but I'm not so sure about that. Maybe it works in funny ways. I found $5 bill on the ground the other day, maybe that's my payback for being a really supportive and giving friend? Does Karma mean I have to be satisfied with that? A $5 bill?

The reality of this situation is that when you realize that no one asks how you are doing, you start to examine who you are in an effort to determine why. Who, What, Why, blah, blah, blah. I'm making this more complicated than it needs to be. I guess I just grapple with being the friend of convenience sometimes. It would be nice to be the first person called, not always an after thought. It would be nice to give to people and get it back in return. Simple shit really.

Yeah, I get that I'm not always 100% fun. Sometimes I am probably a cramp in people's style. My honesty is my curse. When I am alone to my own thoughts with nowhere to go and no one to see, I start to get uncomfortable. And it leads to stuff like this.

I Think I Broke My Tivo

I decided on a whim to set my TIVO to record Game Show Marathon on CBS this week. Whoa. This could be the most poorly conceived and executed concept I have ever witnessed on television. It's essentially C-list celebrities "playing" classic tv game shows. The first episode, which one would assume is the best of the bunch, is The Price Is Right hosted by Ricki Lake. Now if seeing Paige Davis (Trading Spaces host from 2 years ago) trying to win $80,000 in Plinko and come up with a measely $1600 for her charity sounds painful, then you should see Kathy Najimy (from, I don't know Sister Act?) miss a three foot putt that would have netted a $77,000 Caddy convertible. Lance Bass, Tim Meadows and Leslie Neilsen didn't even get to see the fucking stage in this cluster fuck which begs the question, do they get paid for an appearance on this piece of shit regardless? I'm so scared to see how they can pull of Let's Make a Deal with the completely bored studio audience who is unfortunate enough to have to watch these "stars" pretend to understand a game show they have never apparently watched in the first place.

Please kill me.

Rest In Peace

Paul Gleason died of lung cancer. Damn.

Most memorial high school principal in film behind Morgan Freeman as Joe Carter in Lean on Me and Jeffery Jones as Mr. Rooney in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Mess with the bull son, you get the horns!

Double Feature

It's been a while since I pulled the double feature routine at a movie theater, but today was a pretty dull day as far as holidays go. My friends are either working or are out of town, no one was having a BBQ or anything, so why not hit the air conditioned confines of the megaplex and take in some summer action fare.

On tap was Poseidon and Mission Impossible 3, and I know that may shock those who would have figured me for an RV/Over The Hedge double bill, but it's true. Before I get to my reaction to the films I saw, let me say this about the previews today. The Break Up with Vince and Jen looks funny to me. I'm not one for romantic comedies, but I love Mr. Vaughn and John Favreau, so I'm intrigued to say the least. Nacho Libre, with Jack Black and from the guy who made Napolean Dynamite, looks very funny. I'm very curious to see what that Napolean director can do with a budget and a big name like Jack. And finally, Invincible with Mark Wahlberg looks super if only because the preview features an Eagles chant. E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles! This sleeper from Disney is the true story of a walk on pro football player in the 70's and appears to be filmed a ton in my dear departed Veteran's Stadium. Nice. Now Greg Kinnear as Dick Vermeil might be hard to stomach, but I'm game.

Okay, so Poseidon was my first film today. I'm a sucker for disaster films, especially the original Poseidon Adventure and the beloved Towering Inferno, so I was hooked before the first frame. This version is nothing more than your standard action movie, and the cast does a capable job of dealing with all the water, but overall it's basically average. I will say that it was unnecessary to make Richard Dreyfus a homosexual. Why? And the single diamond earring he wears is like 1987 people. Gag.

I don't care what people say about Tom Cruise, I frigging like his movies. The guy is pretty straight forward, one dimensional action star, but I eat it up. This installment is better than 2, but not as good as the original. Philip Seymour Hoffman brings something special to the table as the villian in this one, and he was welcome change to the usual foreigner Alpha Male shit they do in these types of movies. Very fast paced and exciting despite it's run time of over 2 hours, In fact I'll say this about both movies, they didn't waste a frame on bogus shit. I never checked my watch and was involved, so we'll call this day a success.

Memorial Day Weekend

Okay, so Memorial Day is approaching and I think it's supposed to mark a day of reflection. Probably for remembering people who served our great country in the armed forces or something like that. I'll use this weekend instead to remember the past year I've spent in the heart of the southland, and give you all some insight into where my head is at now compared to the past.

I recall when I first informed my family that I was offered the opportunity to move to the Georgia/South Carolina region for work. No one was very supportive, but that was secondary to the collective feeling that I would never do it. Everyone was convinced I was either too chicken or too lazy or too city to survive a move like this. Well, clearly they were all wrong. But I think more than the prevalent feeling that I wouldn't leave, was this persistent thought in the back of all their heads that this might be a good idea. Instinctively we never want the people we care about to be out of our sight. We all know that time plus distance does a number on relationships of all kinds. However, my siblings especially were seeing a man deteriorate before their eyes the last few years I was in Philly. I was becoming more and more jaded, angry, bitter and it was an ugly thing to see. I spent the last 5 years in Philly transitioning from job to unemployment to job and never really doing anything creative, I was even berated when I started this here blog for shits and giggles.

Aside from my career dissatisfaction, I was terrible with relationships. I would get these horrible crushes on good friends and turn our friendship into mush when the feelings I had weren't reciprocated. If I wasn't around anyone that filled the role of target to my undying affection, I was getting drunk and being the old, drunk guy at the party hitting on girls 10 years younger. I was somewhat of an embarrassment to my friends and family, and I recognize that now. Everyone has a drunken uncle, but I was the drunken uncle. Fuck. That's a reality no one wants to face. Part of my reasons for leaving Philly included this label, a badge I deservedly earned; and I made a pact with myself that when I relocated I would be certain to not be that guy.

To recap, I escaped the confines of my stale life by venturing to Georgia. I had outgrown my pissy nature and somewhat questionable sense of humor; I was a parlor trick to most and not a real person to myself. I know that deep down my friends and family saw past my flaws and truly did have an affection for me. Even if it was of the wounded bird variety. I needed to become who I am, which sounds like total cheese. But the sincerity I had for making a change cannot be overlooked here. If I hadn't moved, I'm certain I would still be the same guy. Lonely, obnoxious, chain smoking, uncaring, hypocritical, vindictive and of course, cynical.

When I unpacked all of my stuff in my new place last summer, I decided to break out of my shell a little. I was thrust into a situation I never experienced before, I had to try to establish who I am to people who never met me, or heard about me before. I was lucky to have a couple people who came with me from Philly, but even Joolie, Sydney and Tena only knew a few facets of my personality since our relationship back North was of a work variety. I was a boss to Syd and Tena, and to Joolie I was a peer, a former suit who knew his shit about Call Center stuff. As I saw it, upon arrival to Georgia I had a couple major hurdles to jump over.

1. I needed to be more forward and aggressive about meeting women.
2. I needed to make sure I didn't fuck up my friendships with the women I was around the most.
3. I needed to be more open and less judgmental when meeting new people.

Although I've touched on the issues listed above during the course of this diatribe, and if you are a frequent reader, you know all about my fuck ups with the ladies and my propensity for judging everything, but to exemplify them a little more right now will help me illustrate my change, the essence of this diatribe. (Wow, as a guy with a Journalism degree, I would have to suspect that sentence was stylistically a travesty. Apologies all around.)

Okay, number 1. I've manage to hide behind this mask of humor I wear in an effort to hide the fact that I'm incredibly scared of rejection from women. I can count the number of times on one hand that I've asked a girl out on a date, and I'm pushing 35. Tragic, no?

Number 2. Yikes, the list of casualties in this one is quite a body count. Shall I list them oldest to newest or vice versa? Let's just say the following wonderful women have been a victim to my "I think I like you more than a friend" speech at least once. (Oh yeah, that's right. Some got this more than once. Sad but true.) Keely, Audrey, Joanna, Michelle and Lynell, all fulfilled the role of Joey Potter to my Dawson Leary at one point or another. And sadly, hav\lf of them I no longer talk to and the other half will always be able to recall that I embarrassed myself by confusing friendship for budding romance.

Number 3. Well, I am a city guy. I prefer film and theater over hunting and fishing. I prefer to watch sports, not play them. This one was going to be really tough to shake considering where I was moving. I can't drive stick, I like imported beer and I think women should be treated with respect. I was in trouble.

Upon relocating, I fully embraced being more aggressive with women right out of the gate. I asked a girl out my very first week here. Yeah for me! The fact that this girl then became fodder for this blog and not exactly the person I had hoped she would have been is to undervalue the importance of what I had accomplished.

Now number 2 didn't go as smoothly, I kind of fucked this one up a little bit upon my arrival in Georgia. Somewhere between hook ups with Punk Rock Baby, I got nervous and scared and freaked out about being in this strange new place all by myself. I put some pressure on a friend and almost fucked up worse than ever by alienating one of the three people I knew in a brand new town. Thankfully I reeled this one back as soon as my line was cast and did some major damage control along the way. Otherwise, I would be mentioning fun times with Joolie and Tena instead of fun times with Joolie, Sydney and Tena the last few months.

Making friends wound up being the toughest of the three for me the last year. And what's really strange about that is that I've always been a very outgoing, extroverted person. Some people look back at college and see a group of 3 or 4 best friends and I look back and see a solid group of twenty people who did almost everything together, every single weekend, summer, holiday. Perhaps early on here I put all of my time and effort into wooing chicks instead of finding some cool people to hang with? I know for a fact that I used Joolie and her ability to meet people as a social crutch for a couple months. Maybe it's the disconnect in common interests that plagues me? In taking stock of who is in my inner circle, outside of fellow transplants, I see not one person I've met on my own. Everyone is a friend of a friend or Joolie's friend or Tena's friend or Sydney's boyfriend.

But I'm not going to dwell on this one minor set back, since I have much more to remember about this past year. Let's move on to the cusp of 2006 shall we? Right before Christmas I ended things with Punk Rock Baby and began a long distance thing with Katie. This change turned out to be the first of many changes I would go through for the next several months. The two women couldn't have been more different if they tried, but both shared one commonality in that they said they loved me but never meant it. I'm not unhappy or sad about this fact, I am merely stating a fact. I feel very strongly about the usage of those words, I think they should be reserved for moments of significance and not just thrown around. I've come away from my experiences romantically the past year with a renewed sense of hope and a deeper understanding of how hard it truly is to be loved by someone. Now I could sit here and say that I'm not going to let love blind me in the future, I will be more cautious and less showering with money and affection, but that would probably be a lie. I like falling fast and deep, and so it's one of the things about myself I'm not looking to change despite my failures this past year.

When the new year finally broke, I took on a new attitude and perspective about things. I decided that I was going to zip where I would normally zap. (I think the saying is more commonly referred to with zig and zag, but I like zip and zap better.) This is when I started to embrace my friend's relationships, embraced their boyfriends and listen to them when the gushed instead of trying to spoil their fun, something I was very guilty of in the past. I started to take some care of my health, joining the gym and going religiously even if results are hard to come by, eating things like fish to expand my palette and be more concerned about what goes in my body.

Even recently I've been going to the beach and spending time poolside, two tasks that I would never have been caught dead doing the last 15 years of my life. Self esteem is a big factor for me avoiding these types of activities, and I can honestly say most of that was triggered by fearing a lack of acceptance by women. I had convinced myself that a fat guy swimming with his shirt on would scare off all potential love interests, that these women would never take the time to get to know me beyond their first physical impression of me. I thank my friendships with Joolie, Sydney and Tena for creating an environment where I feel more confident that I can be myself in these types of swimsuit situations. They all know me, or the new me as I like to say, and they don't care what I look like, they care that I am their friend and that I have just as much fun as they are having. I come from a place, my family and friends back home, where ball busting is an art form. We eat each other alive, especially when we see that someone is uncomfortable. It became my way for so long, unconsciously so, and I now realize what a prick I must have been. I feel responsible for how much I must have shaped my siblings by being the oldest and worse, an example. Having my friendships here in Georgia has taught me a lot about just unconditionally supporting people, reserving judgment and just being there for people.

I'm not saying I was a complete disaster before I moved here. And I'm not saying that moving here has made me a better person. Well, maybe I am saying that. I decided for myself to take this journey and at times I regret it, I miss my family a lot, I'm still lonely a lot and struggle to make friends. But. But, I know I am working on becoming who I want to be. And I am hopeful that I will put the past away and the person I am now will be here for a long time. Maybe I've been unsuccessful with life and love because I was a shit? Maybe not. But changing from a shit to a decent person can't hurt. Even if their is no big pay off, I'm glad I'm taking the steps to be a new man.

Sorry that this is very Doogie Howser, MD. I'm at work and it blows. Why not memorialize a little bit to kill the time? The rest of the weekend will be spent drinking beer and swimming, so I'll reflect while I can.

American Idol or Lost Finale?

Which was the bigger mind fuck?

American Idol's predictable winner was the only normalcy I witnessed in 2 hours. Fucking Meatloaf? Toni Braxton looking like a nutjob? Two bald guys singing exactly the same way? The new Clay Aiken? My head was hurting and I was crying from laughing so much during the show. We talked of having a little party for the finale and decided to scratch at the last minute since we all thought the show would be predictable and boring and overkill. Little did we know it would be probably the funniest show EVER!

Now Lost on the other hand gave me a headache. They give you answers that aren't really answers. It's amazing that they are able to keep me coming back for more. And I certainly will now that Kate, Doc and Sawyer are being held hostage by the Others. Thank God the Hatch got trashed, I was so sick of those fucking buttons. But the bigger question that lingers is where the hell are they? Desmond left on a sailboat and comes back 2 and 1/2 weeks later claiming that there is nothing else? Me confused. I guess I'll feel complete in about 3 more years when the show wraps up and we get all of our answers.

Big Night of Tube

It's down to Kat versus Taylor in American Idol. I'm slightly surprised that Taylor made it this far, but at this point I think he has managed to become not only the favorite, but the almost expected winner tonight. Not bad for a guy pushing 30 with prematurely gray hair. But honestly speaking, is anyone excited to watch 2 hours of this crap tonight?

Another 2 hour event is the finale of Lost. I suspect there will be more questions than answers as per usual, but I'm still interested in seeing how this shizzle winds up. In a conversation today at work, my friend Tracy and I were trying to address one of the flaws in the concept behind Lost. What happened to the Polar Bear monster or the Black Smoke creature? Did they go away? Will they ever come back? When you have a show run for two years now, but only 50-60 stranded days have passed, you have a lot of loose ends that never get resolved. Are they hoping we will forget them?

Oh, check this shit out. The Shield is a show I never, ever saw one stitch of in the past 4 years it's been on FX. I can't even be sure I have ever watched FX ever to be honest. Anyway, I rented disc 1 of the first season and watched the pilot episode before bed last night...holy crap, what a good show. I'm totally late to the party on this one, but what can you do?

I know. I could mention that I correctly predicted 2 out of 3 winners on the reality trifeca this past week or so. Or I will have in about 3 hours. Wanna see if my skills are luck? Let me say now that Shawn will be Trump's next Apprentice. As if anyone cares or even watches that show anymore. Fuck I'm a loser.

Lazy Days In The Sun...

I spent some of today sitting poolside at Joolie and Eric's listening to my Ipod and reading a book. Relax, take a minute to stop talking and thinking, that's what I told myself to do today. Three day weekends in Augusta are a curse for me. Having such a break from work points out the lack of anything interesting going on here. If I didn't have the pool today, man, I'd probably just fart around on the internet all day doing nothing.

I got new glasses finally. Walmart called this morning when I was in the process of mulling over my plans for the day and watching True Life on MTV. I think I look very different in the new frames, but I guess I'll have to let others be the final judge. I look slightly rockabilly meets fat nerd.

Hey, guess what? Da Vinci Code sucked balls. I didn't read the book, but I'm kind of happy I didn't because the story line ain't my cup of tea. I think the makers, Ron Howard and the producers, all were such fans of the book that the focused more on making the movie live up to the reader's expectations and forgot about us, the people who never read it. I was confused the whole time and I consider myself a smart guy.

Red Wine and Tandori Chicken Don't Mix

I woke up on my couch at some ungodly hour last night with a mouth full of vomit that I had to cough up onto my beige colored living room carpet. Nice. Apparently drinking three bottles of wine (pinot noir, pinot grigio and merlot) and munching on tandoori chicken all night leads to this. And man, red wine puke is the worst of all pukes.

But I'm not mad. Or embarassed about the throw up session. Wanna know why? Because I had a fucking good time at my house warming party, that's why. Everyone loved my food. And the place. And I'm kind of pissed that only Jordan and myself drank copious amounts of wine, but you can't turn a Sparks and PBR crowd into wine drinkers over night. So I'll deal.

We got pretty drunk and played Pictionary late night. I recall telling stupid stories and entertaining the crowd. I don't remember pissing anyone off, something I'm prone to doing when I'm drunk. Tena brought over the Juice, a guy I've only met briefly before, and he was a decent guy. Mike brought over his girlfriend's kid brother Wes, a high school kid who probably just thinks we are all old. And I invited a chick I work with over named Cinthy. The usuals like Sydney and Joolie and their respective boyfriends were in the mix as well. Nice containable group. No fights, no drama...just fun.

If you want to see a bunch of boring pictures, then go here.

People Pleaser

I'm having a housewarming party for myself on Saturday night. I know, I spoil myself don't I? It's not really a housewarming, more like a nice evening of food and wine with friends. I love hosting things, planning things, cooking, so why not get some people over here to partake and change it up a bit. I must admit that going to the same bar and seeing the same people can become tiring, so I for one am welcoming the idea of doing something new. I have a sweet menu planned, crab salad on broiche, spinach lasagna rolls and tandoori chicken kabobs, and I'm anxious to execute the whole event and just enjoy the long weekend I have this weekend. And wine drunk is a nice drunk, so there.

Miss Miserable

One of the worst feelings you can have is the feeling of helplessness. Right now a good friend of mine is struggling with the direction her life is going, and nothing I say ever makes it all better. And that sucks. I realize that her job is a dead end, and it can't be fun to realize such a fact when it's your job, but I can do nothing about it. I'm forced to sit back and watch her slowly lose her mind each day doing the same mind numbing task over and over again.

Soon, too soon if you ask me, she will rid herself of this job and move onto something else, somewhere else and I can only hope that she finds something that uses her talents more wisely and makes her happy. As much as I would have liked for her to succeed where she is, alongside me, I feel as though it's the best move she can make to jump ship. The job is wearing at her, and I've never been an advocate of doing something that makes you miserable every day. It will suck to not have her there everyday, but it's not much fun having her there when she is miserable.

Um, okay.

Well, another shit day in shit town actually comes out alright when it's all said and done. I complained to my new landlord that I was getting hit with late charges on the pro-rated rent due for the remainder of April and about some things not done in the house and it worked to my advantage.

I don't have to pay anything for April now. Nice. And they are coming over to fix shit tomorrow. Nice.

Makes this day seem less crappy than it really was.

Relaxation

Sitting poolside on a Sunday drinking some beers and having some good conversation is becoming my new favorite past time. I snapped over 100 photos of essentially nothing. Thankfully I trimmed that down to 33 for your viewing pleasure. It was overcast and the water was cold, so no real swimming took place.







Check out the full series here.

Grey Day

It's Mother's Day. Great. Since I don't have a Mom anymore, this is one of those days that you just naturally block out. Just like her Birthday or the anniversary of her death. I try not to think about them as they approach on the calendar, but once the day hits you pretty much have no choice but to reflect a little. And with Mother's Day, well how do you escape the commercialism of a day like today?

Making matters worse is that it's supposed to thunder storm and rain all afternoon putting a squash on the idea of sitting poolside and drinking the day away. Although, I can't say I really have the desire to drink anyway. This past week I've been an emotional wreck at times and last night I walked into a scene out of Spun or Trainspotting where everyone at the bar was fourteen levels ahead of me on the drunk scale. This meant that no one could carry on a conversation, not that I like conversing with wasted folks anyway, but it was especially surreal since 3 of the participants intoxicated were people who have gone on record that they were sobering up and kicking the booze. Two of those folks are doing it for health reasons as well, so it's really sad to see people make decisions that are self destructive, and clearly more so when you are completely sober and in sound mind.

Watching people continually just drink away all their problems is something that I'm not comfortable with. I'm just not. And as a result, I decided my best move was to peace out after a quick hello to folks. Ten minutes is all I lasted. I guess my tolerance for this type of behavior is a bit of a reflection of my own actions this last week as well. Two drunk episodes where my mood changed on a dime and I became angry or sad. I could make an excuse that I'm just out of it since Mother's Day was on it's way, but that would be a lie. Like I said, we kids of the deceased are masters of blocking that kind of shit out until the day of. Nah, I'm more or less just slightly down about my lack of intimacy here in Georgia. These people don't know me, and when people don't know you, they don't really care about you. And when you have an epiphany that the people you are surrounded by in a bar don't really know you or care about you, well if you are me, you just kind of snap a touch.

My cheery disposition on life sometimes wanes into this gloomy area from time to time. Usually I'm able to dust myself off and trudge on. Maybe I can do it again this time? But right now I just want to think about my Mom. And not think about my distance from family and my anger towards everyone else. And maybe I will drink a couple...

Perhaps I'm a hypocrite? Or just ill equipped to deal with shit?

Baseball(?) Photos

Conspicuously absent from these photos is anyone actually wearing a baseball uniform or playing baseball. Like I said, it was dollar beer night.

Check 'em out here.

Stick It.

If I see this movie alone this weekend, am I just wrong?

Play Ball!

Apparently I have lived within one mile of a Single A ball team's stadium for the last year and didn't have a clue how much fun you can have on the cheap. Last night was Thirsty Thursday where beers are a buck and I managed to rustle up a team of 8 to attend. $20 later, I had a belly full of beer, a big pretzel and a pretty good time. And from the looks on my friend's faces, they did too. Pictures are forthcoming...

Reality TV Whoredom

No, this post isn't about Trishelle or Tonya from the Real World. It's actually about the convergence of the best weeks you can have in the realm of reality TV. Americal Idol drops to Final 3, Survivor crowns a new winner on Sunday and next week is the finale of the Amazing Race. Since I'm a die hard of all three shows, that makes me one excited mama jama and a total fucking loser. God damn I need a girlfriend.

Anyway, here's my final thoughts on each show and who I think should win and who I think will win.

American Idol

Kat Scratch Fever. I love McPhee so much that I actually voted for her last night, my first voting session this year. I'm worried about her chances of surviving Elvis week. It's slightly unfair that she was the only woman, so I hope she survives. Eliot stepped up his game and made Taylor and Chris look like chumps in my opinion last night.

Who will win? Taylor
Who should win? Katherine

Amazing Race

Final 3 teams are the impressive Frat Guys (winners of 8 legs of the race and a ton of prizes); Ray and Yolanda, (the quiet, athletic couple) and The Hippies. Knowing the history of this show, and not to sound sexist, but the male/female team doesn't have a shot. Amazing Race always comes down to a two male team in the home stretch as history has proven. I have loved this season for the simple fact that the Hippies are just incredibly fun and energetic guys who are genuinely having a good time. Sincerity is paying off for them to make final 3 and that is rare on this show.

Who will win? Frat Guys
Who should win? The Hippies

Survivor

Goodbye Shane. The amount of blindsided tribal council vote offs is making a prediction here a tough one. Terry has been a marked man for 6 weeks and yet keeps winning every challenge and has the hidden idol to pull out when he does lose one. And the guy is staying out of the fray each week since he is odd man out. Hmmm. Loving the Cirie-isms and seeing a robust, black woman represent on the show for a change. I'm not going to lie, I did read a spolier story a while back that said who won and that is playing a major part in my predicitons since that person is still around in the final four.

Who will win? Danielle
Who should win? Terry