Never leaving my camera at home again..

I've never been a big camera guy...I've yet to pull the trigger on an SLR even though I'd really like one...but today the scene at Fitzy was absolutely amazing.  Granted the weather helped a ton as it was well over 50 and sunny all day.  But by 11am there were well over 10,000 people in the stadium to watch Bangor v. Windham, which is pretty damn cool in my opinion.  Like I said yesterday or the day before I know a little bit about Maine high school football and I've never seen a crowd like that out for a State game...ever.  We skipped the Class C game because we were thirsty and we didn't need to see JV football (I'm a jerk but Maine Dogs know what I'm speaking about..) but when we got back for the Class B game featuring Leavitt and Cape Elizabeth there were damn near 6,000 folks still in the stadium when it was pitch dark out.  At 6pm.  Not the same folks...but still 6,00 folks at 6pm.  That's a usual Class A crowd.  Like I said: weather is weather, but it was pretty cool to see a ton of folks in the state come out and support some good football.  Cudo's to you all (Granted...I didn't pay as Skip got an MPA pass for us to get in free.  He won't tell it this way...but it was my idea to walk out on the field upon arrival at 10am to shoot the shit with the Windham staff, soley because we run the place and no one was going to tell us that we couldn't just walk out on the turf.  Well, he runs shit.  I just don't give a shit.  ANYWAYS.  Suppose we were their lucky charm...).  But I say I needed a camera because a lot of folks outside of Maine don't believe we (read: Maine...the state) can bring it as far as sports, and today was a huge step in the right direction.  In the A game Windham is a program that started developmentally about 10 years ago but worked up through the B and then A ranks running the spread offense and now are showing people what happens to folks who believe in their system and master it.  Matt Perkins, you don't read this, but well done to you and your Windham Eagles.  It was great to see. 

Also well done to Coach Hathaway and the Leavitt Hornets in Class B.  I never played for Mike but I sure as hell got after it alongside old man Hathaway in the EL stands back in high school gyms as he cussed out all those c's (his word, not mines..) from the other teams as us high schoolers banged bucket drums and I belted out the "Winning Team, Losing Team" chant before I was asked to leave basketball games.  THOSE, my friends, were the good old days.  But today was a great day for Maine football and I wish I had some photos of just how jam packed Fitzy was.  It was a treat.  Enjoy your nights, my frineds.  Cheers.

4:30am Saturday Morning

And I'm wide awake.  I fell asleep on the couch again, as has been my habit recently and woke up just after 4am.  Awesome.  I don't remember when I fell asleep, I think around 11, so I guess that's close enough to a full night of sleep.  Have a big day planned with Skip heading down to Fitzpatrick Stadium to watch some high school fooseball.  It's sort of a tradition since they moved all three classes to Fitzy a few years ago.  It's actually a pretty cool setup for the first two teams that play because the crowds are usually big but the third game always gets shafted, not so much because a lot of people leave (though I'm sure they do) but because that game doesn't start until 6pm so it's almost always cold as balls.  Back in my younger days when I was a fooseballer (Now I'm just a fooseball fooseballer..) I hated the cold.  I never "got" the whole thing about acting tough and not wearing sleeves, or thinking football should be played in the snow.  My sentiments: Fuck that.  I stayed as warm as I could.  When I was at Bates all athletes were issued gray sweatpants and sweatshirts to wear for the season.  And when it got cold I would wear the sweatshirt under my pads.  Ya.  I dressed like a 6 year old youth fooseball player.  But I was warm.  All the shit I got was certainly warranted as I looked like a clown but that's neither here nor there.  Maybe that explains some of my poor performances...If only I had not worn sleeves in practice maybe I would have been a better player...but I digress.  Back to Fitzy.

When I was a high school fooseballer my team made it all the way to the Class A State Championship game.  We had to have been one of the worst teams to ever make a championship game.  Ya, we had a good bit of talent and out defense was nails but we were flat out awful on offense.  In the first eleven games of the year we never game up more than 14 points, yet we were 4-4.  But at any rate we got hot and went on a little run through the playoffs and beat Lewiston in the PTC Championship, a game which decided which team from the Eastern conference had the "privilege" of getting flat out demolished by Portland.  41-8.  Ya, we got worked.  But the PTC championship game was a good overall assessment of my football playing ability: slightly above average.  Muffed a punt in the first half which led to Lewiston's first TD, but pick-sixed a pass in the 2nd half to tie the game up.  We missed the extra point and the goddam game went to two overtimes and I was fracking cold by the end, but that's neither here nor there.  More or less this performance was on par with my life in general, I suppose.  And I don't find anything wrong with that.  Just be on the good side of the bell curve and everything is gravy, right?  O, and Yeah, high school.  Just had to get that out of my system.  2nd O: If anyone out there on the "internet" has a copy of that '02 PTC Championship game, VHS, DVD or otherwise I'd appreciate it if you could let me know and I could make a copy, as I think my copy has been misplaced.  You're all too kind..

Sidenote here on high school.  Maybe it's just me but if I could have stayed a junior in high school forever I'm pretty sure I would have.  You're an upperclassman so you have a little clout, my class was good at most sports so that was pretty nice, by this time we were all 16 and we all had our licenses so we could go wherever we wanted (right, Sloat?), high school classes are jokes and you have absolutely no responsibilities whatsoever.  I mean, I worked summers in a screen printing shop which wasn't glamorous but it filled my gastank and allowed me to live the lifestyle I'm now accustomed to (read: barely getting by.  HAH!).  [Lester:When I was your age, I flipped burgers all summer just to be able to buy an eight-track. Ricky: That sucks. Lester: No, actually it was great. All I did was party and get laid. I had my whole life ahead of me..]  But seriously there was no college or real life coming up, no pressure.  It was a pretty good ride.  So if there are any juniors in high school out there reading this: Stop reading this, it's not meant for you.  But also enjoy yourselves, you might not know how good you have it..

Picked up a new winter hat today.  As I look back today was actually a pretty good day.  Made dinner.  Pizza.  Or flatbread.  Flatbread pizza, maybe?  Came out OK except for the fact I was the only one home when they finished cooking around 7 (I was hungry, sorry..) so by the time my folks got home they were a little chilly and I made one of them a quasi-pizza margherita with sliced tomatoes so the crust was a tad bit moist in thinner places.  D'oh!  But overall they came out well.  I got the dough at the Italian Bakery, my favorite little hidden gem in the twin cities.  Well, I think it's kind of hidden.  A few people know about it...the right people.  But they make a good dough so I picked up a ball and went to Hannaford Bros. and picked up some fresh mozzarel, a big ol' red onion and a couple of tomatoes, then just used some other ingredients from home.  I grilled off the dough with a little olive oil first, and that made for a nice crunch when all was said and done.  I used some leftover chicken with the onion which I caramelized and some BBQ sauce for a base and some shredded cheese for my own take on a BBQ chicken pizza.  I kind of skimped on the cheese on this one, but I'll still give it an 8.  The aforementioned pizza margherita

Escape!

Decided to take Tuesday off...well, because who, honestly, really wants to work?  I had put together a couple Saturdays working in a row and a Sunday mixed in here and there for good measure and I decided, "Heck, Matt, you deserve a day off."  So a day off was what I took.  And on my day off I snuck away to probably my favorite hideaway around, a little spot on the beach near Popham beach..  I know I've mentioned Morse Mountain on here before but I have no idea when and if it was just in pictures or whathaveyou, but there's this something about the spot that relaxes me.  Whenever I eave I just feel better.  Maybe it has a little to do with the low-key drive (though this time Barney pulled my ass over on 209 for my passed due inspection sticker.  But Phippsburg's finest let me off as he felt it was "probably just an oversight on [my] part."  A seven month "oversight."  He said that with a straight face, too.  Guy deserved a commendation for that fine bit of police work..), maybe a little to do with the couple mile walk in, but I'm sure most of it is due the view.  You can't beat the view..

I think of it as my decompression spot.  I tend to think a lot about random ass shit (in case you hadn't noticed that..) and sometime my brain fills up and I need to find a way to clear my dome piece of all that gobbledygook.  A lot of times I have a book or two and something to write in or on and I just sit, walk, whatever and relax for however long I have.  This particular time I brought both a reading book and a notebook but I also brought an old friend who had never been before.  So while we didn't talk a ton I didn't think either were needed (I felt that lazily dozing for most of the morning was slightly less rude than engaging in an obvious inner monologue..).

Quick pause here...I don't know how many people have "spots" that they just feel comfortable at and like to go and do nothing...but I think bringing someone new into these spots is a little pressure packed.  It wasn't so much I'm nervous people will get there and not enjoy it, or find something odd about it or anything like that, just now it's not entirely a "me" spot.  Ya, Liam and I go a lot, but we're practically married (Rachel, lucky Question 1 didn't pass...heh, heh..) and we both go there for much of the same reasons so we're on the same page.  Basically, I go there to get away from people, not to bring other people along.  A little bit of escapism is needed every now and again.  So a new face was a change.  I didn't find it to be terribly traumatic...so that was just swell.  I guess they passed the test.  All in all it was a fine day, though I think this was certainly an exception. 

To continue...some days it's only an hour (or I only want it to be an hour because it's balls cold out..) spent on the shore but Tuesday was an all day affair, complete with clear blue skies.  The weather was phenomenal.  Not a cloud in the sky.

And no one was there.  Well, not no one; I'll be honest: two other people showed up from about noon:15 to 1pm.  Other than that, however, no one else was on the beach.  And I had never seen the tide as high as it was when we rounded the bend towards my favorite rock just after 10am.  Couldn't walk on the sand; had to get all climber-style over the rocks.  Pretty neat, in my opinion.  I took a visual picture, not a digital one.  I find visual pictures last longer.

This is also the only beach environment I like to sit on rocks rather than in the sand.  It has great sand, but for whatever reason I fit best on the rocks.  Odd, I know.  Maybe because I don't think of it as sitting at the beach.  It's sitting, at the beach.

As the tide went out Ida's remnants were present up and down the sand.  Driftwood, ropes, shells, and all manners of debris were strewn about and the afternoon sun made for a fine time to walk up and down the beach and see all of the junk.  And we were in for quite a treat:

Yep.  A lobster claw.  Not so neat, you say...?

Ya, that's my hand.  This sucker spanned from my elbow to my bracelet..

The Ides of November have cometh..

Jamey Johnson live at the Fryburg Fair in October:

Where the hell was I...not really sure how I missed this.  Just by looking at the guy you all probably could tell I'd be a fan even if his music sucked, but his music doesn't suck so suck "it."  I've wrote his name on multiple scraps of paper in efforts to remind myself to look for his CD at Bull Moose when I head there...and I went today but forgot.  Obviously.  Pick up ZBB for eight bucks though.  STEAL.  Not mad at that find. 

ANYWAYS I've only been to Maine's Blue Ribbon once way back when I was a little tyke and the fam went up with my grandparents but had I known I could have seen this I definitely would have headed over last month.  F. 


And speaking of F...Where the f did the last six months of my life go?

I mean, I know where it went: Nowhere, for the most part.  Ya, I got to see some of the country, got some hikes in, had some good times here and there, but for the most part I've just been stuck in neutral.  Stuck may not be the right word, as I can't say I was really looking to change anything and actually look for jobs or other places to reside or anything that would actually lead to...change.  SO it's really been more of conscious choice to keep my foot on the brake.  Whatever, enough life-imitating-car-analogies..

Recently, however, I've started making progress.  I was lame again on Halloween...for the third year in a row...so while I wasn't going out I took the time to finally compile a legitimate, current resume.  I thought about going as The Dude but I couldn't quite find a costume or create a goatee capable of tying the room together, so to speak.  Maybe next year.  But I digress.  A resume?  That's a big step for me...as I hadn't really done that since my college days.  Not senior year in college but during my junior year.  I applied for a summer internship with the Maine Center for Public Health so I did the resume and cover letter thing, got an interview, went to the interview, didn;t get the job and decided "That was a lot of work for nothing...I don't really want to do that again."

And so, I didn't.  Until now.  And...I've already sent it out.  Only one place, because I know folks who work there so hopefully they can pull strings and let me slide in, as I've slid into my last couple years of employment...but at least it's something.  I'm about 60% confident that this has gotten the ball rolling and the proverbial "snowball effect" will take place henceforth (hopefully before snowballs are present around here..) and I'll get other resumes out and...hopefully...have something else to do and a change in scenery sometime soon.  I say just 60% because I'm also lazy and full of shit a lot of the time but I've already done something so my odds of doing something else are greater than a coin flip.  Slightly.

This isn't saying I'm sold on the idea of joining the 9-5, office-working, tie-wearing slobs of the world.  Just the thought of me in that situation makes me cringe.  F.  OF COURSE I'm exploring other, "less serious, more laid back (read: fun and/or actually enjoyable)" options.  Things are in preliminary stages across the board and I have contingency plans left and right and up and down.  Hell, one or two may even drift into the fourth dimension.  Things are up in the air, but at least I've stepped out of purgatory and into some semblance of an action phase, however preliminary this may actually turn out to be.  And I suppose I can handle that.  If you've got ideas and/or places for me to work then let me know.  I'm all ears.  That, and places to stay as I try to "get on my feet elsewhere" in the near future.  I've sort of set a Jan 1 (2010.  See, legitimate date to make for a legitimate plan..) "Move out of Marie and Skip's place" date.  They're good people, obviously, as they've put up with me this long so it's about damn time I get out of their way and out on my own.

So, 45 days to work shit out.  I think I can handle that.  I'll start...by going to sleep.  Cheers (and G'nights all around, business is beginning to pick up..).

Much better, etc. (and I mean etc...)

First and foremost, I hate contact lenses.  I guess this isn't a new feeling for me.  They're a pain in the ass.  Lasik would be nice.  Maybe tomorrow (or the next day, or the next day..).  Lenses really dry my eyes out, especially at this time of year, where the air outside and the air heating cars are both pretty dry.  Couple my poor vision with my prescription glasses from junior year in high school and I don't have a lot of options right now other than to wear my lenses and make the best of it.  As I mentioned on Monday (or Tuesday, whenever it was...I can't remember right now) I had some nastiness going on with my right eyeball that began Sunday afternoon.  I did...nothing about it Monday because I tend to take a wait and see attitude with illness, in that I wait until it gets too unbearable to take and then I see what should have been done about it when my ailments were tolerable.  This is not (totally) because I'm lazy, it's much more that I dislike the system of medicine we currently implement.  And that I lack insurance.  Whatever.

At any rate, I made it to my doc's office Tuesday morning and they were actually pretty cool.  It was a simple office visit and they decided to send me to my optometrist for further diagnosis so they didn't charge me.  Good people.  The doc's office thought I had an infection like conjunctivitis so they wanted to give me some 'roids to kick the shit out of it.  But, alas, these docs were not eye docs so I got shuffled along.  Later that afternoon I made it to my eye doc...and they told me absolutely nothing.  Which, needless to say, made my afternoon.  The guy wasn't sure exactly what was going on, it could have been super-conjunctivitis...or it could have been something else totally different that I do not quite remember...so he thought it best to just give me drops that treated the symptoms I had rather that an actual treatment for either possibility.  My eye was red as shit and very sensitive to light, so he gave me drops to decrease the redness and prescribed a drop to dilate my pupil so it wouldn't be as sensitive to changes in light.  I got irritated when, after he already dropped the two different howdoyoudo's onto my eyeball, he gave me drops there for the redness, yet had to prescribe the dilator bottle.  Horse's ass.

So I solved this quandary by not bothering to fill the 'script for the dilator drops, first because they made my vision wicked blurry for hours after he put it in and second because I didn't want to pay for drops that just treated a symptom but did nothing to actually solve the problem that was going on with my eyeball.  Long story short I worked Wednesday with my glasses without incident (other than the fact I had to drive..."trust it and watch out for blurs in my lane" worked swimmingly) then went back to lenses today and everything was gravy.  So...had I just sucked it up and waited another two days I would have been fine.  Whatever.  All better for now.

--

In other news...my change bottle is filling up (I was going to take a picture but I got lazy.  It's a 64oz jug of beer that's now well over 2/3 full of quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies..).  That's just swell, in my book.  I'm interested to know how much change can be accumulated within a growler.  Ya, growler.  That's an old-time measurement for beer.  Real technical term.  And big beer bottle:I thought that was a nice touch.  The most change I can remember getting together was about $125, I think...so once this fills up I'll have to decide if I want to roll it or find a new vessel.  I'm pretty sure I have another growler downstairs by the 'rator, so stay tuned if I decide to go pack-rat mode with my change.  Maybe my next vechile will be bought with rolled coins.  I see the government loving that..  This beer talk also reminds me: Shipyard Prelude should be getting released pretty soon so that'll be the next brew on tap in the bassment.  I feel like I heard about a November 20-22ish release party,

(Time to) Ketchup..

For the past week I've been without posts.  I apologize.  Truth be told I haven't really done anything interesting in the past seven-ish days but I still like to get random BS up for kicks.  This helps me to feel like I did something rather than like I am today, looking back and asking myself, "What the hell have I done lately..?"

As last week got to hump day and then proceeded to come to a close I was bumming for much of it due to Question One being passed, again banning gay marriage in the state of Maine.  But to be honest I wasn't really upset at those who voted Yes, which supported reenacting the ban.  Of course I do disagree with their vote, but I’ve become especially unhappy with myself because in hindsight I feel like I could have offered a lot more to the No on 1 cause than a single four hour volunteer shift.  I don't know if things actually would have been different, but I know when this issue makes its way back onto a ballot sometime in the not so distant future, if I am still in the state I hope to find the time to do much more.  And the same should go for all of you out there who support equal marriage rights for all.  If you think going to the polls and voting is enough, or throwing a facebook status update is enough voicing your displeasure with the results, I disagree.  Get out and volunteer your time, as much as you can.  For everyone who feels like they did EVERYTHING they possibly could (and I know there are some, and I commend your efforts) I’m sure there are ten, or 100, or more for each of those people who all could have done more.  There are many ways to support the cause even if you don't want to interact directly with possibly supporters over the phone or face to face.  I know this is a tad late, but I hope this will not be forgotten the next time this makes its way to the polls.

--

On a lighter note I didn't work on Friday and instead spent much of the day in Portland helping Liam move out of the apartment he and Rachel share, as they are planning a move into a new residence sometime very soon.  For those of you who never made it to their old place...it was maybe 400 sq feet.  This is not a joke.  The place was tiny.  But those two packrats managed to fit, oh, somewhere in the neighborhood of 6,000 boxes of stuff in there

Get Out And Vote (No on 1!)

I know a majority of the folks who read this are fairly like-minded in terms of our social awareness and beliefs, so for any Maine residents out there reading this I implore you to hed to the polls Tuesday and vote no on Question one of the Maine ballot initiatives.  For those out of Maine or out of touch, if Question 1 is passed then the law previously passed by the Maine Legislature allowing same-sex marriage will be repealed.  A "NO" vote means that you support equality for all, you wish to give every resident the right to marry a person they love and care for, and that you want to see these relationships receive guaranteed equal protection under the law.

I don't have time to get into a lot of my own personal sentiments, and I apologize for that as this is an issue I have been meaning to get up in-depth even before I volunteered in Portland to canvas in support of the "No on 1" campaign this past Sunday morning.  This will be a very, very close race, as off year elections typically draw less than 20% of voters to the polls (Less than 20% is my number.  No on 1 quoted 16%.  Obscenely low to decide an issue of this magnitude, at any rate..).  The law passed by the legislature does not force clergymen and other religious folks with the power to perform marriages in religions who do not condone same sex marriage to perform same sex marriages.

This is strictly a civic issue, and if "separation of church and state" still carries any weight (I don't believe it ever really has, but that's another story..) then civic law needs to be viewed completely separate from religious doctrine.  The jokers out there who object because they don't want homosexuality to be taught in school...let me tell you something: homosexuality ALREADY IS TAUGHT IN SCHOOL, in that kids ask questions and teachers give answers.  Strong, same-sex relationships have existed, do exist, and will continue to exist in Maine regardless of whether this law is on the books, so these relationships will continue to come up in conversation of school-aged children and teenagers even if same-sex couples are not afforded equal protection under the law.  This "taught in school" argument is akin to if we decide to not teach about China in school because people don't believe in China's differing form of government (My analogy.  I first thought of France, but all I could come up with was "because France sucks" so I moved on.  Sorry for this interlude - this was not meant to diminish the impact the analogy was supposed to make.  Think about it, seriously..).  Really?  Ridiculous.

So please, please please: Maine residents get out to the polls today and vote NO on Question 1 to keep this law on the books and show that maybe Maine isn't actually the deep south of the far north, after all.  This needs to be viewed as a civic issue, and a civil issue, not a religious one.  Thanks for your time, see you at the polls.

Oh, what a year..

Yep, believe it or not, this is the one year anniversary of the 'Pad.  Time seems to have flown by...as I don't feel like I've accomplished all that much in the past 12 months.  Yes, I've changed jobs (and will soon be changing again, whether I'd really like to or not.  The resume is coming together, I swear..), seen much of the northeastern United States via automobile (and a couple states just south of the Mason-Dixon line..), sat at home quite a bit, slept close to 1/3 of the year (somewhere around there, I'm sure.  Law of averages..), drank plenty of beers at Gipper's (believe it or not, but I was there this evening.  Until close.  Shocking, I know..), among other things.............

But for the most part October 30, 2008 to October 30, 2009 was a pretty good year.  Surely, it ranked somewhere in my top twenty five (This got me to snicker but I know most of my audience is more mature than I am.  But humor me..).  I had fun writing.  I hope you had fun reading.  As long as I continue to entertain myself I will continue to get things upon here.  I'm somewhere just north of 200 posts, as this sucker goes up so I guess my goal (until I give this up is..) to keep on the average of 3-4 a week.  Unless I get back to having a job with my own office.  When I had an office this provided for a good time (The number of posts tell the story..).  These days I don't have the energy to post as much as I did back in the late winter/early spring.  I like to sleep too much.  And I'm back on a reading kick.  I've got four books started.  Ishmael which I've got about 100 pages left, and Fahrenheit 451, The Catcher in the Rye, and Getting Stoned with Savages (Thanks, Brion and Maureen.  Liam let me borrow it, in case he didn't tell you and Brion happens to read this..) which all are just in the beginning stages.  One of these days I'll settle on one at a time and start to plow through them but I just haven't gotten on that track.

At any rate, I know I've got about fifteen dedicated readers, so keep up the good work.  Check the months on the sidebar or use the search to see any old favorites.  But because I have some time on my hands here are some of my best work (both in my opinion and from what I've heard..):


Where it all began (That's really all it was.  Humble beginnings, indeed..)

V-Day (From what I've heard this is the best thing I've written on here.  With throwback stories I try to measure everything I write by this.  If it's about as half as good as this then I go ahead.  If not I just keep it to myself.  One of these days I'm sure I'll top it but I have no idea when.  This was impressive, even for my awkwardness..) 2nd: (February was a good month...My life, L-Town, Boobies..guess that was about it...or was it?!)

Jimmy and Josh go to the goose..

ARAB MONEY! No, actually I don't have a video,because it's here and my favorite video OF ALL TIME!!

And this was from February, too, but it fits for the current month.  I'm AWESOME (the stool can be slow sometimes..).

If I missed anything, feel free to share (I'm not sober...maybe try April, May, June, July, August, Sepember, etc..).  Thanks again for coming out.  I'll try to keep up the good (read: decent) work.  And if I'm stuggling on verbage then I'm sorry.  The spirits got me.  I HATE grammatical errors on most days, and thank me later for the full post.(...I've got to get readership up somehow...)..  Cheers.

Sorry.

Was going to get some words out on this crisp fall evening, but I'd rather go to bed.  Fantasy football wheeling and dealing took priority this evening post dinner.  Be afraid, my friends, as Hacksaw JD's U.S.A. Brigade is storming back into contention after a three week hiatus from attention-paying by its owner/GM.  I'm back to massaging egos and demanding excellence all around and the boys have bought back into the system.  It's on like donkey kong..

I've got some good words in my dome, too.  Made an excellent venison stew, compared and contrasted the 86 Celtics and 96 Bulls, did some job conversating/networking with multiple folks, hated on the Maineiacs HARD, went to Boston, and probably did some other things of note which I am unable to remember at this particular moment, too.  Perhaps one or all of these subjects will arise again at another date and time.  I'm preparing to sleep well, and I hope you did/do, as well.  Cheers.

Wednesday was Where the Wild Things Are (Or Were? Or May Have Been?)..

Today proved to be a short day a for work, escaping after a free lunch at Hammond Lumber (which was tasty. Fine day for it, too..) and I was afforded a free afternoon to do WHATEVER I damn well pleased.  So this is how things went down:

1.) Drove home from my boss' house, emptied my pocketses on the kitchen table, and removed my shoes.
2.) Went to the little boys room, picking up the newest Time that I could find on my way in (if you catch my drift..).
3.) Saw on the cover they had an article about Where The Wild Things Are.
4.) Said to myself, "Self, you don't like to read reviews before you see the movie which is being reviewed, and you want to see Where The Wild Things Are, so I guess you'd better see it soon before this magazine disappears."
5.) Myself said to me, "Well, Matt, you've got a free afternoon right here.."
6.) Me and myself decided to see Where The Wild Things Are.

And, let me tell you: I've been hesitant.  I LOVE the original book.  Easily my favorite children's book of all time.  If Brian Scalabrine asked me, "Like, all time all time?"  I would say, "Yes, Brian.  All time all time."  I like it that much.  Simple.  To the point.  Love between a mother and child, through thick and thin, even when the kid is being a little shit head.  Just warm and fuzzies all over the 20 pages or however long it is (Thirty seven, actually.  Just took a minute and counted.  Time counted 338 words, and I guess I'll trust Time on that figure.  Maybe the magazine's actually good for something..).  But at any rate I've been skeptical since I heard talk of a feature-length release some time ago.  Three hundred and thirty eight words and 37 pages over 90 minutes?  This could go many places, and none of them probably for the better..

Burrrrr..

I think fall may have just decided to say, "F it," this year and just moved through the fun, colorful, WARMER portion of the season as things seemed to just get balls cold from October 1 onward.  And my creaky, old-man body is not happy about Mother Nature's decision to go ahead with this plan.  This aggression will not stand, man.  My joints are achy, what the hell?!  I'm 25, not 65.  This crap sucks.  My shoulders have been especially troubling all week.  This happens fairly frequently as I've had shoulder problems from mid-high school onward.  I've done the MRI thing, I just opted not to get cut.  I don't like surgery, or even painkillers for that matter.  So every two or three months I go through a spell where my shoulders hurt like hell for a few days, then things balance out and I go back to normal life.  I think the cold has made this particular bout of pain suck more ass than usual, as I've had to pop two Aleve on two occasions this week.  Sonofabitch.  Couple with knee and hip stiffness and I think the years are slowly catching up with this spring chicken.  I may not be as good as I once was.  Shucks.  Maybe it's time to start exercising, that way I have a reason to say I'm in pain.  However, I trust within the week I'll feel marvelous again and be ready to grab the world by the tail, pull it down, fold it up, and stick it in my pocket [Editor's note: As of concluding this blog I'm already feeling better.  No big deal..].  Ya, that sounds swell.

In other news I think I may be back on a little white russian kick.  Caucasians, if you will.  This all started because I went to the Cumberland Farms across from Gipper's Thursday evening to pick up a couple bottles of MD red grape wine for the weekend and for whatever reason they decided 11pm was a good time to wax the floors and not allow anyone in.  Zingered.  So sans keg in the basement I thought quick Friday following work and noticed I had plenty of good quality vodka (Kettle One, my personal fave, and Absolut) and Kahlua.  Of course I was lacking half & half (I prefer half & half to cream or milk.  Kind of the best of both worlds, really.  And that's how the Dude made them, so it has to be correct..) so I had to get a little creative: soy milk.  Ya, sounds gross, I know.  But lemme tell you something: Soy-casians taste just like they smell: DELICIOUS.