Cake

I went to another concert down at the Edgefield McMinimans this weekend. Saw Cake. Very different feel and crowd from the My Morning Jacket show. MMJ can flat out rock, Cake is pretty laid back. MMJ's lead singer is better at music than entertaining, Cake's lead is engaging and funny. MMJ does ten minute jams, Cake takes the Vibraslap to new heights. The crowd at MMJ was into the music (but not in a snobby way), Cake's crowd was into having a good time (but not in a Jimmy Buffett way). Both groups liked to get high. I enjoyed the opening band for MMJ and loved that MMJ played for over 3 hours. Cake had no opener and played a couple hours - and gave a way a type of Hemlock sapling. Pretty different shows. I liked them both though.
I did not, however, get a backrub from a stranger at this show, and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.
Dash has been substituting the word "humans" for "people". It's really funny.
I've hit double digit hornet stings in the last 2 weeks by repeatedly running over an underground nest with my brush mower - you'd think I'd learn...but it's not funny. Hurts. (urth)

Bon Fire

I heard once that if you want to get over a girl, put her in literature. Man, that sounds like something I'd do. Turns out, I have.

I was doing some cleaning the other day (gasp) and came across a box. Inside this box there was another box. And inside that box was a shoe box. It was this box that had some unusual contents: photographs and school pictures going back to grade school, along with notes and letters from old girlfriends. There were a lot of things that i found to be very strange about this as I was sifting through it. First off, how in the heck has this survived all the movings and cleanings prior to this? Why did I keep them in the first place? What do I do with them now? I admit that I am a bit of a sentimental guy, but I'm throwing them out. One note was from the 4th grade! It was strange that there were some notes and letters in there that i never gave. It's about the closest thing I'll get to having a time machine and going back to see myself in jr high/high school.. Man i was a dork (was?). You can probably attest.

Fast forward to "college-Andy". College-Andy has started journaling. He journals dreams he's had and dreams he wants to have. He journals about events that are significant to him, as well as insignificant things he hopes turn out to be significant. There's not a lot of talk about any particular woman or women, but there are frequent references to the woman he's yet to meet. The woman he is hoping to meet one day. The Woman. It's very sweet. I like this guy. If I could only talk to that guy...

While I was married, I journaled less because I had this blog. That was my media for my life at that time. Mostly light hearted, fun stuff. But for the last 2 years I've blogged less and journaled more. The content of my journals now? Spiritual stuff and chick stuff. I have two full books filled up from my divorce alone. The guy who wrote those was angry. Like he'd been stabbed in the heart 39 times and the wound got infected. I don't like that guy. That guy needs to meet College Andy and hang out with him for awhile.

I'm ready to be New Andy.

Writing and journaling have helped me out a lot over the years. It's been therapy at times and may have helped me not explode once or twice. It's also kind of fun to see the commentary I had over the high's and low's over the last 20 years. I am a total dork, and destined to forever be. What I'm wondering is - what do I do with all of it? My life literature is significant only to me and it's beginning to take up some space. I'm fairly sure I don't want others to read it, but if you have any good ideas what to do with it I'm game.

SPEAK INTO MY GOOD EAR!

Last night was july 4th and I was going to flick one of those monster Pop-Its at my cousin, but somewhere in the flick I discharged the megaPop-It right next to my right ear. I received shrapnel to my face and a distinct high-pitched hum that is traveling with me still. I can't tell you the physics on how it happened because I don't know how it unraveled. I'm ringing.

I got a phone call the other night from a friend of mine who'd had a little too much to drink. Actually, a lot too much to drink. The actual phone call was about 45 minutes long and included a lot of making fun of me and then ended with a marriage proposal. Strange? Not if you happened to be listening. But very strange because you are assuming the call was from a woman.

I went to another concert last week. Saw My Morning Jacket down at the Edgefield McMinamins in Portland. Great show. I didn't know them before, but I do now, and am a fan. Some highlights from the evening:

• There were a lot of high people at the concert - makes for fun people watching.





• There were also what seemed to be an unusually high amount of pregnant women (is the phrase "pregnant woman" redundant?) I do not think they were high, but they were well represented.




• We met a real nice white guy named Mateo (like San Mateo). He was so nice he offered me three things: whiskey out of his flask that he smuggled in, some of his weed, and a backrub in the middle of the concert. I accepted one of them.




• Met Jeff Oja. Changed my life. Funny guy. Just kidding, didn't change my life but we made some good fun at the expense of the people standing near us.




• Ok, Ok.... I got a backrub from Mateo mid-concert. But before you judge me, let me explain. There was a pretty rocking song playing and he puts his hands on my shoulders like he's going to start jumping up and down (which would have been appropriate), but instead starts rubbing them. He asks, "Does this offend you?" This was the perfect question for him to ask (assuming he really wanted to give me a massage) because I felt many things at that moment, but offended was not one of them, so I said, "No." What I was feeling was ackward, strange, confused, and hungry, but certainly not offended. So he proceeds. And it was weird. Imagine the middle of a bangin song, people jazzed, singing, dancing...and some stranger is giving you a shoulder rub??? I really felt weird and sort of uncomfortable - mostly because it felt SO GOOD. I'm not ashamed to say that I let him do it for the rest of the song (probably a couple minutes). So there you go.

If you'd like to take something as mundane as weed-eating and liven it up a little, try using 3-D glasses instead of your normal protective eyewear. I did this yesterday. Not only was it more fashionable, but when the little pieces of grass came at me it was like I was Neo from the Matrix.




There is no spoon.




I played at Hoopfest in Spokane for the first time a couple weeks ago with my buddies Jon Webb, Kelly Clary, and Jake Knudsen. We had a blast, we got beat and beat up, and we're probably going to do it next year. Lots of fun. Dash came with me too. I was so glad he did. Things are better with him there. He got his cast off btw. The picture of him is traveling home from Spokane.
That's about it for the last couple weeks. If you call me in the next couple weeks, speak up. Between the concerts, drumming, and fireworks, my hearing is mediocre. Here are a couple snapshots from the last couple weeks.

My new favorite vehicle...My old favorite vehicle with a big a$$ chair in the back. This is how I watched fireworks this year and I highly recommend it. I was a fully mobile stargazing/firework watching aficionado. I got this chair for $10 at a garage sale (talked him down from $20). Sitting in that big beautiful lounger is like you're enjoying the warm embrace of a soft, comfy hug from someone you love who smokes cigarettes.

And finally, this is the first house I lived in. We rolled through Ritzville, WA on the way to Spokane. Dad bought it for $17,000 in 1976.