Sunday, December 30, 2007

I Will

be using this website as a way to communicate with you guys while I'm out of the country. At least for the time being, phone calls are expensive until I get a new phone. It could be like a myspace, except without the pictures of all you guys with a beer in your hands, and some Green Day song playing in the background. I like the posts I've read and will take part in these discussions in the future.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

What's Your New Years Resolution?

I'm lying here in my bed thinking about my life and what I want and where I want to be. I think looking to far into the future is scary but for some reason everyone seems content on looking into the new oncoming year with optimism and selfishness. What can I do to better myself? Kinda weird but no one seems to mind the oozing egos of everyone for the first 2 weeks of the new year. Its crazy what a number on a calender can represent to people.
So I've been making mental notes of what I want for myself. So I'll share and hopefully you guys can build on it, comment on it, or just list your own.

1. Get in and stay in shape. Damn, 23. really?! It seems like 20 years ago I was 13 and 2 years ago I was 18. Time begins to move fucking fast, so I guess I gotta move too. I know almost 80% of people say get in shape for the new year gotta lose those 10 extra lbs. Well I'm here to say I'm in the 20% that will actually make that effort. More sports I say, I'm tired of spending my weekends curing myself from hangovers by lying around, its not that fun anymore. Sure I'll get drunk but I'd like that rate its at to drop.

But after playing Bball at Foothill Gym and seeing how far my skills have diminished is scary, because if I let my skills wander longer who knows how bad I'll be when I'm 28. And I don't like that. I'm also going to be picking up the weights again, I was good at that for a solid 3 weeks 6 days a week then we went on our road trip and I lost the motivation, I have to say I was really starting to enjoy the way that made me feel. I want that feeling back.

2. Biting my nails. I've been a biter since 1991, and thats when our first grade class had a survey of what we do and don't do. For example, "Do you roller blade or skateboard?" I was a blader. "Do you throw a ball with your left or right hand?" Right handed. "Do you bite your nails?" Wtf? Bite my what? Let me find out what thats like....ooo...this is weirdly addictive. Its been no turning back ever since. But I've never made a serious, conscious effort to stop, maybe I didn't do it for a week then I would bite when I wouldn't even notice. But now, now I'm making that effort.

3. Reading more. I should be just plain saying reading period. This past year I've read a total of 3 and a half books. But thats 2 total books and 3 halfers. Thats 3 and half more books then the previous 6 years combined, its amazing how much you don't read when your not in school anymore. I can officially not watch sportscenter anymore, MTV honestly has maybe 2 shows I'll watch, but I'm never consistent with them, VH1 has good countdown shows, but I've seen them all, E! has The Soup which is on Friday's at 10 or something like I'm there to watch that, but I'll watch the reruns. And I've haven't watched a basic cable TV show since Friends, I only watch the Office when its on TBS.

So shit. I noticed today every show I tried to watch a commericial would come on 3 mins later so I bounced around for an hour watching probably 12 different shows, then settling on 2007 Funniest Commericials. wtf. So I turned the TV off and read for 2 hours today, and I enjoyed it. So reading is on the rise.

4. Going back to school. Thats right I'm enrolled at DVC this coming semester I'll be taking a Journalism class and a History class, both night classes. Why you ask? A number of reasons, number 1: I like my job, I don't love my job. Sure the money is nice, very nice. But is this something I want to do the rest of my life, fuck no. Which is the beauty of our age, we're at a time of our lives where if we find something we don't like the number of responsibilities we have to ourselves is not limiting our future.

So everyone who reads this, if you find yourself in a job you like but you DO NOT LOVE get out, get out while you can. Who cares if its paying you a shit load, if you don't like your job now and you'll be in it 30 more years you can't even come close to imagining yourself in 20 years and what you'll be like. Take advantage of that everyone. I'll be in school for the next few years while working at a job I do not extremely care, but I'll be working towards something I want even if it did take me a little extra time just to find out exactly what that was.

Thats all I got for now plus I'm getting really tired so I hope you guys enjoyed this and post up your thoughts and your resolutions.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Is it possible to change the world anymore?

I'm reading the book, The Life of Hunter S. Thompson: Gonzo, right now. Back in 1969, Hunter himself after writing his first big novel, Hells Angels, he lived in a small little town outside of Aspen, Colorado. He did not like the direction the town was going in, basically the town was so against the Haight-Ashbury movement, that if any hippies were to come into town they were to be jailed for they did not want anything in that manner to corrupt their small town.
Hunter did not care for this. So he thought he could group enough young people in the town to vote and vote him into the Town Sheriff position, where he could tweak many of the laws toward the liberal side. So he campaigned. He conned the head sheriff into a debate at a local community center, and collected all the young people who he knew were on his side to the debate. He demolished the guy, not only did he demolish him, he outsmarted him, with counter-points and ideas that actually made sense.
So with all the campaigning and help from his friends and people who desired change Election night came. With the town's population of 2,000-3,000 total people, he lost the campaign by a mere 274 votes to another guy who Hunter and his people supported, the guy who was Sherriff lost by a landslide. But after that campaign, the town changed police no longer chased druggies and drunks and threw them in jail, they helped them to their homes after bars closed or helped them to rehab centers. Police no longer chased off the young, they helped them. And it was this way for nearly 30 years.
Today the only change that seems to be happening is doors are closing on freedom rather then opening. Sure technology is opening massive doors for knowledge to be attained but its the same technology that is keeping us from our very own privacy. What direction do you guys see the world/USA going in? What kind of factor will religion have in the future? Do you see yourself making an impact on the world? Do you see yourself, aside from because of work, leaving this country for a better living? Also last note, do you think if you moved to a smaller mid-west town or just a town in general that is "backwards" and make a positive impact? If so how?

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Steroids and Fans and a Solution

"Bonds is a cheater"
"Bonds shouldn't be in the records because he used"
"Bonds is a cheater"
"Bonds = Steroids"
"Bonds*"

For a few years these and more creative signs, chants, and slurs have been cast in the direction of one man by fans of baseball, Barry Bonds. He was a cheater, a liar, and everything he has ever done has been enhanced illegally. Barry Bonds built the San Francisco Giants one of the greatest ballparks in history, by cheating history. Fans of other teams looked down upon the Giants as they feel the Giants knowingly used this cheater to their advantage for one thing, money.

But now there are more names, names from every team in baseball. Whether big or small, good or bad, they cheated the game for one thing, money. So what should fans of these teams do now? Should they do what all Barry Bonds' fans did, and back their man until their dying day? Or does that make them complete and utter hypocrites, I think it does.

Fans have had baseball cheating under their noses for 20 years now as baseball has been thriving and making more and more money every year. Well we've got to do something as fans, this may be a fast apology accepting society but baseball has taken huge chunks out of our pockets every year with rising ticket, food, beer, parking prices. So lets take a chunk out of their pockets.

THE PLAN:
Opening Day is by far the biggest day for baseball league wide. Attendance is usually at its highest for most clubs, even the Marlins. So on baseball's biggest attendance and presumably cash day we should all as one do the same thing, not show up.
Not only should we not show up, don't buy tickets to the Season's game 1. Yes season ticket holders have their tickets already but no ones opening day games are completely sold out at this point.


THE OUTCOME:
Money will be lost. By those guys in the high chairs who knew what was going on this whole time but lifted their nose at it. Players will come out to near empty stadiums and realize, "We've done something wrong here" Yes their game will be played out, but have you ever been to a professional baseball game with less then 2,000 people in attendance? Or how about 100 in attendance. Its a lonely feeling for everyone.

Baseball has cheated us for long enough that for one day, one single solitary day we can afford to not even look at a TV screen. Because baseball fans with our quick apology accepted society baseball will be there the next day, the next week, the next month, all the way till into November. So can't we all just take one day together to show everyone involved in this scandal that we as fans are not happy about was going on behind our backs. We as fans must show that what our heroes the guys we've looked up to and imitated for years, we're unhappy with what you've done to us.

So lets spread the word, don't go to opening day and maybe, just maybe this may open the eyes of baseball to what they've done.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Na Na Na Na Na You Have A Girlfriend

wow so last night was a crazy event for all of us. i got really really super hammered and believe it or not after everyone left i ended up partying for like 3 more hours! haha... i ended up going back with these girls to this house up in the hills of walnut creek where there was a huge party. this house was massive, hella rooms, hella alcohol, and hella girls. i stayed there for like 3 hours until this girl, who was id say (and the alcohol would say) she was good looking.

All I gotta say beyond that is what a crazy night

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Those Crazy Squirrels

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It's scary being a little, tasty squirrel, but some species of the rodents have come up with an intimidating camouflage -- snake smells.

California ground squirrels and rock squirrels chew up rattlesnake skin and smear it on their fur to mask their scent, a team at the University of California Davis reported.

"They're turning the tables on the snake," Donald Owings, a professor of psychology who helped lead the research, said in a statement.

Barbara Clucas, a graduate student in animal behavior, watched ground squirrels and rock squirrels chewing up pieces of skin shed by snakes and then licking their fur.

The scent probably helps to mask the squirrel's own scent, especially when the animals are asleep in their burrows, they wrote in the journal Animal Behavior.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

so there are only 4 of us

Thats surprising to me since football season is near an end and basketball posts arent nearly as fun. As far as alcohol quitting goes, I could not quit cold turkey unless there was a drastic reason...like if i drank another drink i would die (i know, pretty fuckin drastic). Weed would be easier to quit although i do enjoy smokin it. I've thought about how the chemical imbalance would effect one once quitting after so long. I guess one day I'll have to find out for myself. On to another drug, roids. It was interesting to look at the mitchell report. I do agree wtih you gio that we have never seen baseball without cheating which definetely sucks. I feel though that after all these names have come up and the cases are closed, stop investigating. Baseball should look more towards the future of how to fix it then to punish the people of the past...its done move on. As far as testing players though, they should test them every week but they wont cuz its too expensive. If the league cared about its integrity, they wouldnt care about the price. They lost a lot of credibility and sooner or later they wont be getting any money if they cant earn it back. I must say though, im glad i wasnt home when thereport came out. Sportscenter must have been all over its nuts...that and the pats of course....probably the yankees and arod as well.
Lookin forward to comin back and getting faded with you guys. Libyas fun, but its the same shit everyday...smoke a lot of hash, kick it with the family and eat a lot of food...Worst of all, no bitches to kick it with. If you think the dubs bad, you havent seen shit. I leave the 22nd, stay a night in London and I get back the 23rd so let me know if anyone wants to do anything that night. hopefully im not too jet lagged. Giorgio, if you can think of something you want from the arab land, let me know (i dont know what you would want but the offers out there for you or anyone else).

Well...

it has been a few days since anyone has made a post, so what the hell, i guess its time. there has not really been too much excitement around town. people have work, school, girlfriends, etc. all three of these things i do not have, so i guess that gives me reason to believe i need one of these. it is a huge quandary right now for me; do i spend money on the Kaplan LSAT class, and then from there take the LSAT and go to law school; or do I make an internet company, something which I have been thinking about for a long time; or do I look for something in the business world, but honestly, after two lackluster jobs I am beginning to wonder if the business world is cut out for me. I think I would be much more satisfied having my own company, working for myself, or being a lawyer... and not necessarily do I have to practice law, I could always get into being an Agent - which would be very cool.

Times like these I wish I could smoke some weed. It has been hm... let me count... over 6 months since I last took a toke. I never thought I would see the day, but I guess it has arrived. Let me tell you this, for all of you who have never made it 6 months without a toke... it is nuts. In my class they talked about what happens to your chemical balance in your brain after 3 months, then 4 months, then 6 months without marijuana... its nuts! In the beginning you have a loss of appetite, feel like you are very bored without it (which is soooo true), and is one of the main reasons why people continue to smoke - they feel bored without it. Life is very boring being sober, and that is the killer to trying to stay sober. The second thing your brain does as it tries to recuperate from its long haul of marijuana - depression and lots of sleep. You are constantly tired and depressed. This is a normal reaction, and I had the same feelings. I remember a few months ago I was depressed about everything, and for no reason at all. You begin feeling depressed because your brain is going through major changes. There is a missing chemical in your brain and the brain is trying to reorganize itself and re invent who it was. And let me tell you this, trying to stop drinking is the hardest mother fucker of them all. I do not consider myself to have a drinking problem- I can drink a drink and do not need another one, I do not need to drink to be "ok," but sometimes I feel it is fun to drink, and I do not see a problem with having fun. I like partying, I like having a good time, and alcohol just makes it more fun, so why not? I am not an angry drunk, I am not a sad drunk, I like to have fun, so basically I do not see a problem with it. But But But, can any of us, or me, honestly say they could go Cold Turkey and quit drinking for ever? Wow, imagine that. No more alcohol? It is a drug, and its the most sought after. I think that alcohol, being so accessible and accepted in the world is amazing. Cultures throughout the ages have used alcohol, some even speculate that alcohol is the reason why agriculture developed - the first civilizations began crops around hops and barley. And even monkeys and other animals will go after certain fruits in the wild because of the fermentation of alcohol that takes place. Animals, like we are, like getting fucked up.

Lets hear some comments about alcohol, its mysterious way that it can keep us, how it is so socially accepted, and if you think you could quit for life this instant.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Man oh Man, Shits hit the fan

wow. so now that the Mitchell Report is out, what now? My personal opinion is disgust. Disgust for how much love I put into the game, how much I enjoyed watching some of my heroes play the game. I idolize Barry Bonds. I remember, and even to this day I still love, pretending to step into the left hand batter's box and cock my bad left and right and then hit the imaginary ball and just watch it soar. That is Barry Bonds. And even more, I enjoy catching fly balls - tapping the glove against my leg while the ball is in the air, and then grab it out of the sky like it was a piece of cake.

But now it is over. Sure, he is one of the best to play the game before the steroids, but the fact is, he cheated. Him, along with countless others, cheated to win and become who they were. One name that I was surprised was not in the Mitchell Report - Brady Anderson - he had one good year and then fell off the face of the Earth. And oh ya, Albert Belle; if he was not on roids, well damn props to him.

Now dont get me wrong, I love the game of baseball, but the thing that I now see, which I feel so much remorse for, is I followed these characters in my youth and up into this day. These were the players who I wanted to become, they are the reasons for going to the ballpark, imagining and sometimes believing that they were right there with me. Imagine if we found out the kid from Sandlot juiced up before hitting that Babe Ruth ball. Ha ok so probably not.

The funny thing is I, nor any of my close friends, have seen baseball without steroids involved. They made it very prominent that HGH still can be used and is untraceable with todays tests. Another funny thing, now I know why Clemens threw that bat at Piazza during the World Series - Roids. It is a shame that the game I love and the players I idolize cheated. And in the words of Max, "If you aint cheatin, you aint winnin."

Thursday, December 13, 2007

B.T.P.U. Preview

Mitchell Report

http://assets.espn.go.com/media/pdf/071213/mitchell_report.pdf


So what are peoples thoughts on George Mitchells Report?

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

GRANDPA RIEBE

welcome grandpa riebe! nice of you to join this blog, where the festivities are always goin down. i hope you enjoyed the picture i posted down below. ha.

Kids These Days!

The kids these days - I'll never understand them!

They are always sitting around drinking all the Modest Mouse and listening to their Grey Goose.

Back in my day we had two choices for alcohol - beer and moonshine. The beer tasted like piss and contained no alcohol half the time and the moonshine burned your throat and made you go blind. So make your choice! I chose beer one time and from then on, I took blindness like a man damnit! It wasn't so bad. Who wanted to see what their drunken shenanigans got them into anyways?!? Plus I think touching, smelling, tasting, and hearing are just as important when your decision-making part of the brain has blacked out. The real trouble started when we had to walk back home in the pouring rain and sleet and snow - blind. It was fifteen miles uphill, both ways!

The kids have it too easy these days. The hardest part of their day is standing in the alcohol aisle for 20 minutes at their local grocery store contemplating what kind of booze to buy for the long night of drinking after a long day of doing nothing productive:

1: "How about some citrus vodka?"
2: "Vodka? No, I drank way too much vodka last night. How about some whiskey?"
1: "What kind of whiskey?"
2: "Jack? Or Jim Beam? Or some Wild Turkey?"
1: "Hmmm... JD sounds alright."
2: "No, forget it. Whiskey dick. Let's look at the beer."
1: "Alright, how about this 12er of Sierra Nevada?
2: "No, let's just get this cube of Natty Light for the same price."
1: "Natty Light is gross."
2: "So is your mom but that didn't stop your dad."
1: " Yeah well-"
2: "It didn't stop me either."
1: "Okay so forget Natty Light. Coors?"
2: "No."
1: "Bud?"
2: "No."
1: "Pacifico?"
2: "No."
1: "Pyramid?"
2: "Which kind?"
1: "Any."
2: "No."
1: "You know... do you even want to get beer? I think shots is the way to go with the females."
2: "Females? Like you could even get some with Brad Pitt as your wingman."
1: "Brad Pitt? Got him on your mind? What are you gay?"
2: "Not as gay as you. So what about some gin?"
1: "Gin? Seriously?"
2: "Yeah."
1: "No. What about Jager and Redbull?"
2: "Cant, my mom only gave me $15 for booze tonight."
1: "That's funny, your mom gave me $30."
2: "Real funny, then buy the alkie for me."
1: "Eh sorry, gotta spend some money on lube and condoms for your mom."
2: "Oh Ive got half a bottle of lube leftover from last night with your mom."
*two minutes of silent contemplation*
1: "So how about some citrus vodka?
2: "Alright, that'll work."
1: "By the way, tell your mom that my mom says hi."


FYI, these two knuckleheads showed up to the party and challenged each other to take 10 shots in the first hour. One hour later, after 8 shots each, they were passed out on the two bathroom floors. The most action they got was a plunger to the face and an occasional splatter of piss from drunken bathroom visitors. As for the bottle of citrus vodka they painstakingly decided on? A male party-goer who showed up with empty hands finished it off with two females and proceeded to have a threesome until the sun rose. When everyone woke up the next day, all parties involved considered it "the greatest night ever".


Kids these days!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Live 105's Not So Silent Night - Review

On December 7th I had the chance to catch this show there was 5 bands, 200 parents, 600 js, and so many 12 year olds smoking pot that I felt pressure to buy some dank and light it up just to fit in.

Paramore 

Opening act: 
Ok so...I missed their whole gig. I was late. Forgive me. Actually forgive the person I attended the show with, she lost the tickets right out front and we searched for 30 mins.  Long story short, someone returned the tickets to Roll Call, good karma I guess.
But regardless good band who have an interesting sound.

Download this:
"Misery Business"
"Crushcrushcrush"

Spoon

2nd Act: 
Yeah so remember that whole losing the ticket story, it inched itself into this bands spot as well.  We got into there show, they had 3 songs left, which were actually all pretty good. Good enough for me to download a few of their songs off itunes, and listen to more then once.  

Check this indie band out, they've been "underground" for 10 years and 6 full albums while getting stronger and more cohesive as a band. If you like rock with a bit of artistic ability sprinkled throughout you'll enjoy this bands sound.

Download this:
"The Underdog"
"Don't You Evah"
"I Turn My Camera On"

Buy This:
Their New Album "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" is all the rave on any music website with a pulse.

Angels and Airwaves

3rd Act: 
Ok so. Lets get this straight, Tom DeLonge leaves a wildly successful punk/rock fun-loving cock/balls/pee jokes band, blink-182, to pursue a more serious career on a band who writes songs about feelings and power? WTF?

I'm first going to put this out there. Tom thinks hes GOD. He thinks whats hes giving the world in Angels and Airwaves, he believes it will take him out of hell for the demon bearing blink-182 band he did as "a kid" in his words.

Tom made a speech before every song EXCEPT for the very first song, which had a 2 minute guitar build up. Here are some excerpts from his speeches:

"...Did you ever want all the power in the world? (7 stoned teenagers yell quietly to themselves 'i do!') I did. When I was just a kid in a punk rock band not giving a shit about anything in the world, I started to realize the power that I wish I had. I wish I had the power to do whatever I wanted, and thats what this song is about..."

"...Have you ever wished that everyone a whole room as big as this could feel the same exact thing all at once...I do...And thats why I wrote this song its called 'Everythings Magic'..."

Yeah so thats just a few of them, he had about 7 of them all in that realm. Now don't get me wrong the music wasn't BAD, but his speeches just made the following song so cheesy.  He basically ruined it, if he didn't make the speeches beforehand I would've liked the songs a little bit more.

Just a note as well, Tom proclaimed when they first started that they were going for U2 and Pink Floyd. Uh...noooooo.

Download this:
"Everything's Magic" Yeah his speech was...well peckerwoodish, but the song is still catchy.
"The Adventure"

Jimmy Eat World

4th Act:
Damn. These guys killed it. Flat out best band of the night, how they weren't closers is beyond me. They played the perfect blend of new stuff and their previous 4 other albums.  Their ability to control the tempo of the crowd was phenomenal, it also showed me how many great arena rock songs they have.  

They flexed their rock muscles from beginning to end all the while peppering their set with 2 great ballads that had everyone in the crowd close to tears while their arms swayed in the air with the 21st century's version of a lighter, their cell phones.

Download this:
"Work"
"23"
"Gotta Be Somebody's Blues"
"Let it Happen"

Buy This:
Their Previous Album "Futures" will have you not listening to anything else for 3 weeks. And then 1 week later you'll be listening to the album for 6 monthes straight.

Modest Mouse

Closing Act:
First off, I never realized there was 6 guys in this band. Their setup was a little offsetting to me with the lead singer set all the way to stage right, while i was 5 people back stage left. So looking all the way over to watch him sing got my neck fairly cramped.

Anyway, these guys rocked pretty hard as well. It was a bit of a downer cause I dont really listen to these guys much so for a closing act for me it was anticlimatic but they def rocked the house. Their radio hits were great got the house shaking, and they closed out the set with a 16 min closer that was killer.

Download this:
"Ocean Breathes Salty"
"Dashboard"
"Float On"

Festivities

so it has been one month since my last birthday, so there are some things to catch up on.
1. This Winter Break should be very cold, but I think the consumption of alcohol will always keep us warm. Plus Kshitij (Sidaj) has a house open for two weeks in Cupertino - so we should see whats going on in the south bay once or twice. Plus I believe Tony Ton Ton's house is open. Another good sign.

2. New Years - wow so I just made reservations for Days Inn... there are 8 of us going so far in a 2 bed place... its going to be cramped with drunks and druggies... I propose we get a VIP lounge at VEX for New Years Eve... I would recommend we start figuring out now how much that would be - I could do that - and of course if we are all down... its going to be pricy, but well worth the night.

3. I have Jury Duty on the 14th - so lame, i get picked every year.

helllo ladies

welcome welcome. gather round gather round to the show that never ends look inside look inside.

this is the debut of the best thing you'll never read, if you're here, you're here for life you can't go back. there is no way around it this is the place for everyone to be.

now. let the show begin...

ok this is actually funny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P842Tmi6lrc

What about them apples?

so is this how it works?

testing one, two... testing.