A Fragile Friday

The past week or so has been extremely busy, but I'm going to take a bit of time and write about Friday before last. I will in particular focus on the Polyphonic Spree concert that night.

Friday was a mixed-up day. I had a lot of trouble getting us out on the road, but we did manage to make it to the train station in Albany on time. There I found out that I had to take two trains, not one, and I was going to get in an hour later than I had been told (5:30 instead of 4:30) because, or so I was told, it was a Friday. I had already been wanting to have caught an earlier train so I didn't take the news all that well.

When my train finally did come, it was ten or so minutes late. Not a big deal, though it made me a bit nervous since I now knew I had to make a connecting train, but I've gotten pretty used to late trains. Unfortunately, because of the tardiness and all of the track-work that Amtrak has been doing, we got stuck behind a local train. I ended up getting into Penn Station an hour after I was supposed to.

I did my best to take it in stride. There was an Acela I could take at five that would still get me in at six or so. But the Acela was sold out! And so was the next regional, at 5:10! I finally managed to get a seat on the next available regional at 6:20, after pleading with the ticket agent; I had no government-issued photo ID on-hand, just my student ID and driver's permit. I suppose something of my desperation must have shown through as she let me slide. The train was on time and I finally, finally got in to Philly at around eight.

Rachel met me at the station and we went and picked up our Polyphonic Spree tickets from my sister who was holding them for me. By that time I was totally burnt out, but cheerfully so. The stress and energy of the day had taken its toll on me, but I was excited for the concert. We got to the Fillmore and managed to get reasonably close to the stage. We bought some merch and I wondered if my legs would hold out the night.

The opening act was a woman named Jesca Hoop. I felt bad for her because she ran into the same problem that Joan as Police Woman did at the Andrew Bird concert: Being a lone, relatively quiet performer, she just couldn't command the attention of the audience. As the background sound of talking grew, she too grew obviously more flustered and irritated. Still, she had a good voice and played the guitar well, and I'd consider picking an album up except for the abortive R&B song she played at the end of her set.

I'll be honest. I'm not sure I would have previously had the Polyphonic Spree in my top-five artists. I've enjoyed them since The Beginning Stages..., and their most recent album, The Fragile Army, is fantastic, but I didn't have anything beyond average expectations of awesome from the show. So it was a surprise to me when it turned out to be probably the best concert I've ever been to. I've been to a fair amount of concerts, and this one still really stood out, in every aspect.

There's a couple of components to judging live shows. It's not just about how well people are playing, and it's not just about the spectacle. Don't get me wrong - The Spree were playing the songs dead-on, and the while the spectacle wasn't quite up to the Flaming Lips, the confetti and lights were good. The thing that was unique about the Spree is that I've never seen a band so into it. They'd got around two dozen people up there, each of whom clearly loved being there. And beyond that, I've never seen an audience give a band so much love, and I've never seen a band give so much love back.

Pretty well emblematic of that was one particular concert-goer. He was dressed like a fancy kind of sailor and was immediately and obviously wasted. Normally that's the kind of person I fantasize about punching. And I soon was; his comportment was lacking, with him shoving people aside and shouting at the lead singer, and trying to shove the sailor cap in his face. To his credit, the frontman did take the hat and pranced around on stage with it for a bit. But what made it impossible for me to hate the drunken sailor was when he turned around after Tim DeLaughter took the hat and I saw his face. It was an expression of such pure, innocent joy that it made further contempt impossible.

It was like nothing I'd seen before. It was an amazing experience. What was even more amazing was that it seemed like it was for the band, too. At the end, DeLaughter thanked us, and it seemed like he was truly sincere about it. Like I said, I've never seen an audience like that, but maybe it was unusual even for the Spree. Apparently there was an earlier, free show that I missed, which makes me sad, but I'm so glad I was there for that. I don't think that's going to be a show that can be topped. You can read the first part of Rach's post for her take on it. But it was great.

Stone Harbor

Last Wednesday I hit the road to Stone Harbor with Quiggy and his mother, my eighth grade math teacher. You'd think that would be a more awkward situation for me, but I've had plenty of time to get used to it. According to his mother, on the ride up we spent more or less the whole two-and-a-half hours chattering like a couple of teenaged girls. I am unable now to recall what we talked about. I suspect mostly it was reciting Penny Arcade cartoons to each other.

Quiggy and I are pretty big nerds. Thus it was that the first thing we did when we arrived, after bringing our luggage in, was set up his television and Wii and start playing the copy of Call of Duty 3 that I gave him. Since it was rushed to market in order to be a launch title, it's lacking in features, like multiplayer. So I'd watch him play and make fun of him occasionally, but I make fun of him pretty much no matter what he does.

Other games we played included: Balloon Fight, Bomberman '93,Donkey Kong Country, Mario Kart 64, Metroid Prime 1 and 2, Military Madness, Soul Calibur 2, Super Mario Bros., Super Smash Bros. Melee, Zelda (the first one, Ocarina of Time, and Twilight Princess), and Wii Sports. I wouldn't say that either one of us really dominated in multiplayer. There were some games I was better at, because I had more practice, and some I sucked at. Likewise for Quiggy.

We settled into a routine pretty quickly. Generally, the day proceeded like this: We would wake up. I'd mess around on my laptop and Quiggy on his Wii. Then we'd get some breakfast. We'd mess around, usually playing video games, until lunch. After lunch we'd relax and let the food settle and then we'd hit the beach for an hour or two. Then we'd shower and mess around again until dinner. After dinner was when things most varied. Either we'd play more games, or watch a movie, or go into town.

I like Stone Harbor a lot. It's not very crowded, at least compared to Ocean City, and the downtown is very nice. It has a world-class ice cream parlor (Springer's) and far too many places selling fudge and taffy. It has bookstores, a great toy store, a movie theater, something like three mini-golf places, and really anything else you could ask for. Somehow it avoids feeling really touristy, which is always a plus.

The days seemed to fly by and before too long it was time to head back. Our last night there we went to the Boardwalk, where I resolved that the next time I was there I'd bring something to juggle with. I saw some bereft-looking teen doing a couple of passes, not very well, but he had managed to collect a couple of coins. I could tell that novice though I am, I was at least more skilled, so I figure if I get bored I could do something productive. We also went to an arcade and played some Galaga and some House of the Dead 3.

Our real last day there we went to the beach one last time before lunch. After lunch we packed up the van and headed back, though not before stopping for one last piece of deliciousness at Springer's. In the car we watched Batman Begins, an excellent movie. It conveniently was almost exactly the length of the trip back.

I did manage to pick up a bit of a tan, almost enough to make me look normal. I sunburnt one shoulder (my left one; I don't know how) and my hair is a lighter blonde than when I left. It was a good trip. Quiggy's going to Europe for three weeks soon so I won't see him until later this summer, but I'm thankful for the time we spent together.

Then yesterday I drove up north to visit a college and spend some time with my mom before she leaves for a little vacation. We got stuck in a thunderstorm so we didn't actually get in until earlier today. The college I visited is the same one my sister is attending, which of course makes me want to avoid it, but it actually seems like a nice place. I'm going to have to catch a train tomorrow back into Philly, but I've got no idea when exactly that's happening. All I know is it'll be kind of nice not to do any more traveling for a while.

Andrew Bird, Prom, Field Day

Friday morning I was supposed to go to my middle school's version of field day. They call it the Greek and Roman Games. At the beginning of their career at the school, a child is assigned as either a Greek or a Roman. At the end of the year, the two clans compete in a variety of events. It's also a time for alumni to come and visit and see how things are doing. Unfortunately, the weather forecast was less than ideal, and it was postponed until Monday. I was already in Philadelphia that morning when I found out, since I was going to get a ride with Rachel, so we ended up just going to the art museum.

The art museum is pretty awesome. The last time I was there was with Gabo to see the special Andrew Wyeth exhibit. The last time I went there to just see things was probably over a decade ago, which is rather criminal. It really is a fabulous institution, although we had the misfortune of visiting while the entire museum facade was covered in scaffolding for some reason. The interior remained as fabulous as ever, and it was a great way to spend some time until lunch.

After lunch we went and picked Gabo up from the train station. We wandered around South Street for a while. Gabo hasn't spent that much time on it, and it was fun getting to show her around. It was only recently that I've spent much time there, so I can remember what it was like. Fun stuff. I also got a new watch resized but managed to misjudge it so it's still slightly too big. Frustrating, but that's okay.

That night was the much anticipated Andrew Bird concert. I've been looking forward to it since it was first announced, 2+ months ago. I've also been holding on to my tickets for about the same length of time. I only learned the name of the opening band the day before the concert -- Joan as Police Woman. We briefly checked out her myspace page and found it to be pretty indistinctive.

Finally the time came to go and stand in line for the doors to open. We were around fifteenth in line, we only got there half an hour early. We saw Evan and one of his friends standing in line. After the doors opened and we got standing room (reasonably close to the stage), we gathered into a clump and talked. Joan as Police Woman came on and was pretty unimpressive. People didn't stop talking during her set and she got obviously progressively more upset, until Evan said that she looked like she was going to shoot lasers out of her eyes. She did, too.

Then Andrew Bird came on.

Honestly?

Effing amazing.

He's one of the most attractive men I've ever seen and is a ridiculously talented musician. He played about an equal mix of songs from Armchair Apocrypha and Mysterious Production of Eggs. He also played one cover (not sure what of), Dr. Strings, and one new song that he forgot midway through but was still awesome. The only disappointing part of the concert was when the bass gave out and somehow they were only traveling with one bass. The bassist ended up spending the rest of the concert playing guitar or keyboard. Oh, the lighting was pretty bad too. But everything else? Awesome.

Gabo and I slept over at Rachel's place. The next day we took Gabo to the train station and then got on the train later that day ourselves. We went back to my place, hung around for a while, and got ready for my prom. We missed Rachel's prom to go to the Andrew Bird concert, which I do still feel bad about, but I'd feel worse about if it wasn't tied for most amazing concert ever. After we got ready and it was time to go we discovered my mom lost the car. After half an hour or so of wandering around the parking lot it turned out she had left it at the train station somehow. We ended up getting to prom an hour late.

My school has a pretty relaxed prom, luckily. The theme this year was "Blacklight Fantasy," which was pretty cool. The DJ didn't suck that much, and was reasonable about taking requests. I was even able to get him to hook my iPod up so we could play "Piano Man" and yell along. I was surprised to find out later on that this year had the greatest turn-out for a prom yet, because there were still very few people there. I had a lot of fun, because a bunch of my friends were there and I do better not in huge crowds and all that. I think Rachel was able to enjoy it too, albeit it not as much. The best music was played in the last half-hour or so, apparently because some students over-ran the DJ and I had forgotten my iPod back there. (I had been wondering who had such good taste in music, and apparently it's me, though I suppose I was just an enabler.)

The next day we hung around and went to see Spider-Man 3. My feelings about it can be summed up as: They did the best they could. There were just too many elements for them to work with. Something would happen and then not be followed up on for ten or so minutes. They shouldn't have had that many villains. Also: Emo-Spidey? Ridiculous. Topher Grace's voice for Venom? Also ridiculous. I enjoyed it, but it was no Spider-Man 1.

Monday I went to the Greek and Roman Games. Rachel couldn't go because she had surgery (wisdom teeth). But Ben and Gus and Gabo were there and some other people too. It was pretty fun. The score got tied at 12-12, and then the dirty Romans won the last event. The Greeks had a moral victory, I say. Afterwards I went home with Ben and Gus. I'm crashing at Ben's place for some undefined number of days for undefined reasons.

Tuesday I went with Ben's mom to pick him up from school and so I got a chance to wander around my old high school's campus a little bit. The only student to recognize me was a girl who I never had a class with or really even spoke to for more than 45 seconds, but had a crush on me freshman year. I went to drop in on my old advisor and had a nice talk with him. It was pretty weird being back there and also kind of stressful.

That's about it. I've been writing ridiculously long posts, but it all seems to be necessary. In case you missed it, I did publish my NCACS post.

NCACS 07

The morning of Wednesday the ninth I went through my usual morning routine and showed up at school at around the same time as usual. The only difference is that along with my usual bag I had a duffel containing a few sets of clothes, a sleeping bag, and some ablutionary accessories. For, you see, Wednesday morning I departed for the annual NCACS conference (and the second that I've been to), this year to be held in Paoli, Indiana.

We got onto the road at around eleven, right on schedule. There were less people attending from my school this year and thus we had only rented two vans, rather than an entire greyhound bus like last year. My van was named "Betty," the other, "Roy." Roy ran into immediate problems, and so our first stop after leaving was at the rental place to trade Roy in for a working van.

We drove on and on and on. To amuse myself between gas station and food stops, I decided to play a game with myself. At each stop, I'd buy one or two energy drinks that I'd never had before, and see how they rated in terms of taste and effectiveness. Since as a rule I am a coffee and tea person, and think that energy drinks are foul, I thought it could well expand my energy-source horizons. The end results of this grand experiment might well make a post for another time. Suffice it to say that I'm mildly surprised and maybe a little disappointed I'm still alive after pouring so much muck into myself (at one point I had the caffeine/taurine/sugar equivalent of four consecutive Red Bulls and then took a nap), and that I don't plan on switching away from whatever I end up brewing in the morning.

We stopped for the night in Ohio, more or less directly on OSU's campus. A friend of a friend of one of the chaperone's owns a tanning salon, and it was in the lobby of that tanning salon that we slept in. I foolishly decided that, since it was rather warm in the lobby, I had found a reasonably comfy rug, and one can never come off as too manly, that it wouldn't be worth the trouble of fetching my sleeping bag from the van. Naturally, at some point during the night it became evident that I had picked a spot directly under the air conditioning vents and the temperature dropped thirty or so degrees. I spent the night curled in the fetal position, alternatively cursing the heavens and lapsing into unconsciousness. At six-thirty we were awoken by someone's cellphone blaring "Eye of the Tiger" as his mother tried to reach him.

Again we drove on and on and on. I drank more energy drinks, we stopped for food, we played more Mad Libs than a sane person could possibly stand, music was listened to. Most notably the epic tale of "Piano Man" got started. I don't clearly recall how it started out, but my friend Fingers and I began to sing it. We decided to go through and write down the lyrics so we could be more effective, a feat that only took fifteen or twenty minutes but the effects of which shall be felt for a lifetime. Fingers isn't much of a singer, and neither am I, but after a couple of times we began hitting the same key more often than not. More than that, as we learned the song, we planted the seeds of obsession in the heads of everyone else in the van.

After a minimal amount of wrong turns and choruses of "are you sure you know where you're going?", we arrived at Lazy Black Bear Farm, where this year's conference was held. The first thing we say driving up were chickens running amidst the underbrush. I didn't know then and I don't know now whether that was a good sign or not. Driving further into the property, it was clear enough that it was going to be a place more unlike what I've seen before, even compared to last year's in Tennessee. The architecture was not unexpected, being half-ramshackle and employing lots of found objects. Everything was designed to complement or accommodate nature rather than go against it.

The vans were parked and people begun erecting tents. I had more or less defaulted into being in the same tent as a teacher and two proto-teachers. Our tent was magnificent; an eight-person tent, it held only four and was thus quite pleasingly spacious. It could have held any other tent in the campground easily. We dubbed it "Waffle Manor." The original intention was "Waffle Shack," but as the sign was being made, I leapt to the conclusion that it was to be "Wayne Manor." Thus a compromise was reached. The jealousy was clear and obvious among the other campers, and a minor rivalry developed between the Waffle Manor and the so-called "Pancake Palace."

We milled around, ate dinner, and went to the first night orientation. All that really happened there was a guy stood up and talked a little bit about this year's conference theme: biocracy.

Biocracy

A form of governance in which all life has participation; a concept that recognizes nature as the force regulating the physical universe.

Now, I am not a hippie. I think things like sustainable use are great. I'm genuinely afraid of what the large corporations are doing to this planet. Global warming freaked me out before I saw An Inconvenient Truth. When it comes time for me to buy a car, I'm planning on getting a hybrid or electric if at all possible. I worry about conserving energy. I use unscented hygiene products. Nevertheless, I am not a hippie. I felt out of place at times. I like plumbing, and hot water, and bug spray. I am more than willing to sacrifice a little bit of nature-friendlness in exchange for convenience and/or comfort.

Solar showers blow. That's my main point here. The first day it was overcast out, so I waited until late afternoon for my shower. It was frigid, completely intolerable. I stayed long enough to get the topmost layer of gross off and got out. The next day was sunny and I waited until around eleven, when they ought to have warmed up. It wasn't as cold and I was able to tolerate it for around two minutes, when the slightly-less-than-freezing water ran out. It was miserable. I ended up standing out during the rain to feel better. How I longed to be home and in my shower. Sure, it randomly cuts between blisteringly hot and gaspingly cold, but at least there's variety, and it averages out to a pleasant temperature. Thinking to the moment when I could get into a real shower became a sustaining thought.

The conference this year was smaller than last year. My school was represented in greatest force. Most of the other schools that were there last year were also there this year, and the same school got kicked out before the conference was over for the same reasons. My school was also probably the most recognizable, if only because of our resemblance to a traveling circus. I'm not joking. Everywhere we go, we bring hula-hoopers and jugglers and other kinetically-inclined sorts of things. I'm in the juggling crowd, although I did discover on this trip that I can hula-hoop too. I'm gifted that way, and I contribute where I can.

On that note, one of the highlights of the conference was definitely the talent show. A bunch of my friends went up, to sing or play guitar or juggle or what have you. Other people did, too, most notably to tell an impromptu story that was really quite entertaining. Fingers and I and a few other people ended up going up to sing "Piano Man," and it was epic. Maybe we weren't the most talented singers to go on stage that night (although we definitely were better than some of the other people), but we were for sure the most enthusiastic. I got my friend Audrey to take a video with my camera for me, so that the joy could be shared with more people. Later on Fingers and I realized that we need to sing for this year's Sonic Yearbook, so we're going to try and record some time next week.

I didn't go to any of the workshops at the conference last year and it was the same this year. There were two workshops that sounded interesting. One was on identifying edible flora in the wild, for survival and suchlike, and the other was just called "acoustic workshop." I figured the acoustic workshop would probably just be kids showing up and I was too apathetic to show up to the flora one. Looking back at it I kind of wish I had bothered, but hey, there's no telling how different the wildlife is between here and Indiana. It might have ended up being irrelevant or even dangerously misleading.

One of the greatest things about really any trip is getting to know people better and getting to meet new people. Given that I'm an introvert, it's always been the first thing that's been the greatest aspect of an extended trip. I did see my friend Carae that I met last year. She lives in Tennessee so the next time I see her will probably be at next year's conference. Getting to know people better is awesome though. You generally don't get to choose which people they are but I've never regretted it. Being stuck all confined like that will either drive you pretty close together or make you hate each other but I was lucky enough not to end up hating anyone.

I managed to go nearly the entire trip without any great mishap. I avoided leeches, bears, three kinds of ticks, fleas, coyotes, dogs, spiders, mosquitos, chickens, water snakes, and horseflies. I did get scratched by a cat, but cats are jerks. Then, after our van arrived back at school, and I'm walking to get into my own car so I can go home and take that wonderful warm shower, one of my boot laces hooks onto the other boot and I go down on the three feet of gravel between the grass and the car. I took bits of flesh out of my hands and knees. My shower was warm and horrible as I had to clean my wounds. That which I had waited so long for… Spoiled. It was a priceless moment.

May Day

Last Monday I had an orthodontist appointment. I ought to be getting my braces off in two weeks -- just in time for prom. I'm extremely excited. It took a lot longer than they initially said it would, but it's worth it to have my teeth be nice and straight.

On Friday I took Rachel to my school's Evening of the Arts. It's their annual shindig where they hang up or otherwise display people's visual arts and erect a stage for visual and aural performances. It runs the gamut; there's the usual traditional, stunning artwork mixed in with the lower-schoolers' crayon drawings, a suit of chain mail, a motorcycle, paper-craft, there's just all kinds of things.

It's much the same with the live performances. There's the lower-school performances, the occasional spoken word or interpretive dance (neither of those this year, thank the gods), and then all the singers and bands play. There's the misinformed singers (they were informed they could sing and that anyone liked the songs they did), the amazing singers, and then all the bands where you just know they could have been good if maybe they had rehearsed (that's where I fit in). Anger Core performed again, and sure enough, they had improved.

On Saturday, after we dropped Rachel off at the train, I went to see my friend Chris. We chilled out at his place for a while and ate dinner, and then we went to see his old school's production of High School Musical. To be fair, I can't really fault the performance based on their choice of a terrible musical. I never saw the movie but I'm judging it anyway. The performance itself was underwhelming. The lead female role was pretty good, she could sing well. The male lead was adequate, although a little perturbing since his voice was higher than the lady's. There was one other female part with a good singer, and the rest was not really where it should have been. Prop-wise and so on it was good. Great stage-crew, too. It was awesome seeing Chris again.

On Sunday my sister and I went out and had lunch with my dad. It was good and then afterwards we went to the nearby Eckerd and I got some awesome dart guns and some better juggling balls. It's great because they're much better than the tennis balls I've been using. I can actually juggle better with them. There's stuff that I couldn't do at all well before that I'm doing now. So that's promising.

At the zoo

I haven't been to the Philadelphia Zoo in over a decade. It was long enough ago that I don't have any clear memory of it. The last zoo that I went to was in China, slightly over half a decade ago. I believe we were primarily there just to get a glimpse of some pandas -- touristy, I know. Overall it was slightly depressing. The whole establishment had a grimy, unloved feel to it. The souvenir shops sold Pokémon figurines, adding a double underline to the "we're just doing this for the money" mentality of the place. I'm glad I went, but I wish it could have been more pleasant. The Philadelphia Zoo is something else entirely.

Here's how it happened. I was in the city with Rachel, and we had been walking around, trying to think of something to do. We had wandered down by the waterfront, where you can see across the river to Camden. Also visible is the Adventure Aquarium. Only half-seriously, I suggested we patronize it. Rachel thought it was a good idea, but since it was gone six o'clock, it was too late. We left, got some food, had a picnic, and resolved to stop in the next day.

The next day came and it was simply beautiful outside. Warm and sunny, it felt curiously like the first day of summer. Someone mentioned that we had two options -- the aquarium or the zoo. I thought about it. For whatever reason, I've been to many more aquariums (aquaria?) than I have zoos over the years. Maybe they're just more prevalent, I don't know. Based on that, and that it was just too nice outside to be inside, I decided that we should go to the zoo instead. It was one of those rare occasions where not only was I decisive, but I made the right decision.

The Philadelphia Zoo is an amazing place. It certainly helped that the day was gorgeous, the heat and sunniness in perfect moderation, the skies cloudless, the humidity uncommonly low. The lines to get in were long, but moved quickly enough, and were miles ahead better than anything I've seen at a theme park, for instance. Once we got inside, it was surprisingly uncrowded, spotless, and clean-smelling. Right away we were engaged by an exhibit of primates. The whole place seems to be ingeniously designed, so that no matter where you are, or where you just came from, there's something nearby, sometimes already in sight, that you want to see. All the exhibits are tastefully done. There's not the over-abundance of hot dog and cotton candy and crummy souvenir vendors that you normally get every five feet.

I'm not going to list everything that we saw there. Suffice it to say that even though we spent a few hours there, there was plenty more still to see by the time I had to leave. My attention span never exhausted, a very rare thing for me in really any situation. I took a few photos, but sadly all I had with me was my cameraphone. It's good, as cameraphones go, about on par with the first digital camera I ever owned, but still a poor substitute for a dedicated device. Rachel took a number of photos with her real camera, and here is a link to them.

Go to the zoo, because it's awesome. It seems really clichéd, but it really is fun no matter what age you are. If you can't enjoy it, there's something really wrong with you.

Spring broken

I realize it’s actually been closer to two weeks since my last post. No worries, not a whole lot has actually happened since then. Nothing happened the rest of that week or over the weekend. Easter was pretty tame. The only things to differentiate it from any other day is that I ate a lot of chocolate and candy, and was thus more disgusted with myself than usual, and dinner was a more formal affair. My sister and I also had lunch with my dad at one of the few places that was open. It was nice place, more so for not being as crowded as usual.

Wednesday was my dad’s birthday. I don’t even get home until eleven on Wednesdays, so I wasn’t able to see him. I called him up of course. So a shout-out to him, I guess.

On Friday I went into Philly after school. I hung out with Rachel. We were going to maybe check out something showing at the Film Festival but either there wasn’t anything particularly captivating or what was started too late before I had to leave. Instead I introduced her to the magic of Transmetropolitan, the best comic book I’ve ever read, with some of the best art I’ve seen, and just plain one of the best books I’ve read. As a Friday the Thirteenth it wasn’t any more unlucky than any other day in my life. I missed my van in the morning so I had to walk an extra mile. But then I almost missed my train out of Philly because I screwed up the times, and it was pretty damned lucky I was there in time.

Saturday night Gabrielle, Rachel, Mike, and I all went to see Anger Core and Meat Rainbow play. A few other bands were playing, too, but we weren’t there to see them. Anger Core was good but not great. It was their first performance and they hadn’t rehearsed much, but it’s clear enough that they’re headed for greatness. Meat Rainbow was on usual good form. Of the other bands, Space Jams blew, When Cars Ascend had good instrumentals but a terrible singer, and Univox was just all around good. I bought an exclusive, one-of-a-kind Anger Core shirt that I’m going to treasure for years. We also ran into Tucker which was pretty weird but for whatever reason not as awkward as what I would have imagined.

On Sunday my sister and I went out and had lunch with my dad. We wished him a happy birthday and distributed material goods and suchlike. It was good.

Bonfire

Bonfire,
originally uploaded by dougward.

The end of summer

Two weeks ago I got back from my two week vacation with Gus and Ben. We spent the first week in Nags Head, NC and the second in Virginia. It was a lot of fun, although by the end of the two weeks they were both starting to rasp a little across my nerves, as friends tend to do after an extended period of time together, and as I'm sure I was against theirs.

What we did in Nags Head: Went crabbing (we learned the simpler the trap is that you use, the better you do in terms of crabs caught); watched TV; played way too much Mario Kart DS; went to the beach; went to the pool; tested out the mentos and diet cola thing; and I tried being dungeon master for a small campaign.

What we did in Virginia: Watched TV; went to see Superman Returns (I enjoyed it); went to see Snakes on a Plane (hell yes); went to the pool; played a ridiculous mini-campaign (a level sixteen character should not be able to take on a challenge-rating twenty-three monster single-handedly); went to Pamplin Historical Park; and went to Busch Gardens, where I rode on a roller coaster that had an initial drop of over two-hundred feet at over seventy miles-per-hour, and I almost blacked out on it, which is why I don't like roller coasters.

What I've done since I got back: Moved out of Philly; been a key figure in Gabo's surprise birthday party; went to New York to see the Revenge of the Book-Eaters concert (amazing); and, on the last day of August, I got to see The Flaming Lips play in concert at the Allentown Fair. My experience of that concert really deserves its own post, so I'll give the links to where Gabo and Rachel wrote about it. You can check out the photos I took but Rachel's are better.

School starts in less than a week and I am not at all ready in any way. This year fall sneaked up on me worse than any other. I think that's a good sign; I think this has probably been my favorite and perhaps most significant summer that I've had yet.

Jockey's Ridge 1

Jockey's Ridge 1,
originally uploaded by dougward.

Highest sand dunes on the east coast.

Sunset

Sunset,
originally uploaded by dougward.

Backyard view

Backyard view,
originally uploaded by dougward.

Crane game duck

Crane game duck,
originally uploaded by dougward.

I won it first try for fifty cents.

Our place

Our place,
originally uploaded by dougward.

There's more awesomeness than is visible in the photo.

Bus ride back

Bus ride back,
originally uploaded by dougward.

Thunderstorm

Thunderstorm,
originally uploaded by dougward.

Battery's running low, dunno when I can recharge