sound & vision

• a bottle of some Merlot from Chile by way of Trader Joes given to us by Susan's aunt from Olympia - home

Remember that scene from "Risky Business" where Tom Cruise dances in his underwear to Bob Segar's Old Time Rock and Roll? Even though I do not dance in my underwear (most of the time anyway) I love to listen to music loudly when I am home alone. And I love to listen loudly when it's least expected. In the morning before work when I'm the only person in the house I can turn it up so loud and be surrounded by sound, or at night (not a Friday or Saturday when it might be expected) after dark when the neighborhood is asleep.

I absolutely love my speakers. I've had them since UCLA when I bought them in a stereo shop (before there were Circuit City's and Best Buys). I traded in a large pair of Cerwin-Vega's (which were rockin' too) for the JBL's I have now, because they allowed that. When it was Final's Week (which is probably the equivalent of the stress-inducing "Report Card Week" that I'm suffering through now), everyone in Westwood would make as much noise as they could at midnight each night throughout the week. I would turn up my stereo as loud as I could and play a fitting song for the Final's Week occasion. Some I remember playing were It's The End of the World (As We Know It) - REM and Where Is My Mind? - Pixies. I'm not sure if my roommates appreciated it, but it was fun and now it's a great memory.

I've hauled these damn speakers around for about 20 years now. They are heavy and fairly large, compared to today's typically smaller speakers, but I just can't seem to give them up. Susan tolerates them, and I think about when we're "with child" and how easy it will be for him/her to knock them over and I think, "What am I to do about them?" And to make matters worse, my dad gave me his surround sound speakers a few years ago, and I love the subwoofer, which takes up even more space in the living room. Anyway, the JBL's sound so good and I don't think I can part with them.

"Risky Business" is one of my favorite all-time movies. I think it's actually one of my first favorite movies. I saw it with my mom when I was under 18 years old (it's rated R) and then saw it again with my dad and step-mom (who were very embarrassed to see it with me and swore they would never take me to see another R rated movie), but I loved it right from the beginning when it was released. I bought the soundtrack and loved that too. I think I love the movie so much because Tom Cruise wasn't well known at this time (and I still think it's his best movie ever...I don't like him as much now) and the movie just flows.....it's one scene after another of dark, sexual, comedic intensity. *"What the fuck" gives you freedom.*

So, if you haven't already guessed, that's me in my underwear above listening to my dad's reel-to-reel in a rental in Lakewood, WA; back in '68. I've always loved and listened to music. My earliest memories of music were singing along to Don McLean's "American Pie" and listening to The Door's "Light My Fire". In fact, my mom has "Light My Fire" listed as my favorite song in my baby book! We also listened to Simon & Garfunkel, Elton John, Carly Simon, The Beatles, Neil Diamond, James Taylor, The Rolling Stones, The Guess Who, and CCR. There were undoubtedly more too. I suppose my dad is my main electronic geekness influence. He always had hundreds of records, and now he has as many CD's too. I don't think he's gotten into digital downloads, but I'm amazed at how many records he still has. And, he does love his electronics.

So, it's late and I need to sign off. My cd is over, the bottle is gone and I need to get some sleep.

Au Revoir,

cheshire

Happy Birthday Kevin!

• 5 plastic pints Heineken (fuck that shit!) from a Heineken mini-keg (fun!) - Kevin & Donna's
• 2 tablespoons Absinthe (mmmm, 150 proof licoricey delight) - Kevin & Donna's
  

FRIDAY!

• 0 drinks
  

Terrible Twos

• 2 pints Rainier - West 5
• 2 Bartender Margs - Mission
• 2 cans Rainier - Young Whore Village
  
• 2 songs sung - Yen Wor Village (Faith & Sweet Baby James)
  

Animal Drinks

• 1 Wild Turkey bourbon rocks - home
• 1/2 bottle Dancing Bull zinfandel - Duke's
  

"Ah, you know....another day, another dollar."

• 2 bottles High Life - Alki Tavern

- Overheard.

Talarico's

• 1 pint Birra Moretti - Talarico's
  

stratus

• 1 bottle Modelo Especial

I hate the gloom and gray like today was. There is no sense of time because the sun can't be seen. It feels and looks the same at 9 am as it does at 6 pm.

Looking at pictures of sunny days and blue sky brighten my mood just a bit.

Brazil vs. Canada

• 2 cans PBR - Donna & Kevin's
• 1 shot Conmemorativo anejo - home
• 1 can Bud Light - Patrick & Kamila's
• 2 caipirinhas - Patrick & Kamila's
• 3 bottles Corona - Qwest Field parking lot
• 1 pint Bud Light - Qwest Field

Brasssssiiiiiiil!

Schemin'

• 2 cans PBR - the Jeffs
  

- with a Mario Kart chaser!

Zoiks!

• 1 mug Manny's Ale - Zeek's Pizza
  

Bomb-Ass Specials

• 4 super pints PBR - Redline Music and Sports, West Seattle

$2 a pint x 4 = $8
$1 Cheese Blocks x 1 = $1
$1 Jalapeno Checkers x 1 = $1
$1 something else i can't remember = $1
$1.50 Big Buck Hunter Pro x 5 = $7.50

$18.50
Priceless

Tequila!

• 1 Herencia Mexicana reposado - home

Memorial Day

• 2 bottles Budwieser (The King Of Beers!) - home
• 1 mini-margarita - home
  

Rocky Mountain High

• 2 pints IPA (nitro) - Ken's & Laurie's
• 1 Jack Daniels rocks - Rock Bottom Brewery, Denver Airport

Today was my last day, so we took a leisurely drive around the Fort Collins area and up into the surrounding foothills. It's a beautiful area. While the area around Fort Collins is hilly, much of Colorado is flat, that is, until you get to the Rocky Mountains.

Ken and Laurie have three cats and two dogs, all more or less living together in a tolerable relationship - kind of like Ken, Michelle, and I....hahahahahaaha!

This is Showna and Bluema (my spelling is probably incorrect)

This is Chloe ("She's a bitch." says Ken.") I found her quite cuddly.

And I forget which one this is! But she was friendly.

And my favorite....Kazoo. I could never be in a sour mood around Kazoo. Her tongue always looks like this, her legs are half as short as a normal cat's legs, so her belly nearly drags the floor when she walks, and she has a round little rump. She is adorable.

This is me and Ken. He's a big Lebowski fan (pun intended), hence the shirt (which I bought him many years ago. Glad to see it doesn't have paint on it.)

And this is Laurie and Ken.

It was a great visit.

It has always bothered me that when I ask Ken what I thought was a simple yes or no question, he would never answer it that way. He gives me some roundabout answer that I never fully understand and I end up asking him other questions to fill in my blanks. He'd get frustrated because he thought that he did answer my questions, but I was still confused and I'd get angry and things would get bitter. This happened a few times during this trip, but then, in the middle of a conversation, I realized something. He's a lawyer. This is what he does. This is what he's good at. He doesn't do it on purpose; it's just the way he answers. And then I began to wonder, does he answer questions this way because he IS a lawyer, or did he become a lawyer because he answers questions this way? What I realized on this visit, however, is that it doesn't matter. What matters is that I now understand that, and so instead of getting frustrated and argumentative, I just smile and laugh and know that it's all good...whether I understand his answer or not. :)

Hanging at the House

• 1 pint IPA (nitro) - Odells Brewing
  
• 2 Imperial pints Albert Damm Bitter - Coopersmith's Pub and Brewing, Fort Collins, CO
• 1 pints IPA (nitro) - Ken & Laurie's home
  

Saturday we hung out at Ken & Laurie's house, which is a 1914(?) 4 Square shown below. It has a beautiful yard with a lot of room and character on the inside.

The back yard has lots of room for their two Border Collies, Bluema and Showna, to run around. The carriage house on the left is where hay and horses were kept (Clydesdales, perhaps?).

People in Fort Collins bike everywhere! Here I am fixing Ken's bike so that he and Laurie can join their fellow neighbors in keeping Fort Collins green and clean.

Ken has been orderly ever since he was a kid ("I can tell you moved that clock on my dresser!") but I had completely forgotten that when I went to visit. When I opened his refrigerator, I was immediately reminded.

It gets better...

And the freezer...

I love it!

We finished the day by going to another brewery, Coopersmiths, where I had some delicious British Bitter. It was as if I was in England.

Beer, Beer, Beer

• 1 glass Bud Light Lime - Anheuser-Busch Brewery, Fort Collins, CO
• 1 glass Budweiser Select - ABB
• 1 glass Budweiser - ABB
• 30 ounces various taster - Odell Brewing, Fort Collins, CO
• 32 ounces various taster - New Belgium Brewing, FC, CO
• 2 glasses 7 Deadly Zins Zinfandel - Bisetti's, Fort Collins
• 1 bottle PBR - Vault, Fort Collins

I arrived in Denver last night at 10:30. After Ken and I drove the hour to his home in Fort Collins and toured his house, I didn't get to sleep until 2 am this morning. We were up by 8 however (the promise of beer!) and drove down the freeway a few miles to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery(!) which is pictured below. It's one of the 12 Anheuser-Busch Breweries in America, and only one of five that allow tours. Lucky us!

The Can Filler. This whizzing wonder can fill 30 cans a second.

The Lager Cellar. These giants were meant to ferment. There are about 30 containers this size housed in this cellar.

This is Darth. He's a genuine Clydesdale and is used for hauling cases of Bud to neighboring communities through the Colorado snow. Recently Darth delivered Bud Light Lime to victims of the tornado. What a horse.

After our fill of sub-par beer, we headed to the New Belgium Brewery, a model of renewable brewing practices, not to mention tasty suds. You'll notice right away that it's a much different building from the A-B plant. Also, it's a mile down the road from where Ken lives. That's Ken in the lower left hand corner trying to get away from the tourist in me.

This is Ken. He's flashing a pretty healthy smile. Maybe it's because he's standing next to the fermenting tanks and the smell of hops is in the air.

Because two breweries just isn't enough in a day, we hopped on over to Odell Brewing which is right down the street from New Belgium. Fort Collins means "heaven" in Coloradian.

These are the Odell flights. Unfortunately Ken couldn't drink any, but an older brother is always willing to help out the younger.

Sitting on the deck at Odells.

After a day of brewery tours and samples, we ended it with wine and dinner at Bisetti's and then a stop at a dim and dirty bar, The Vault, for some PBR and Photo Match. The Vault used to be a bank, back in the day. Seriously.

Thursday

• 1 bottle Kona Longboard Lager - home
• 1 Jack Daniels rocks - Chili's SeaTac

To Tally or Not To Tally?

• 1 bottle O'Doul's (I feel like I should count this because of it's beer-like taste and it's beer-like bottle and it's beer-like label. What do you all think?) - home
• 1 bottle Kona Longboard Lager - home
  

Heineken!? Fuck that shit!

• 1 pint Pabst Blue Ribbon - Corner Pocket
  

O'Douls

• 1 bottle O'Doul's - home
  

This stuff ain't bad, really.

Into the Wild

• 1 bottle Kona Longboard lager - home

One of the reasons I enjoyed mountain biking so much was that I was removed from the city and most everything about it. I loved riding on the trail; surrounded solely by nature. The quiet sounds of the forest, pure and organic, were comforting. My wheels returned to me the sounds of crackling twigs, the suck of mud, the grinding of dry pebble-grit, and the hush of pine needles. My chain tapping the frame and the hub bearings clicking were the only reminders from the city.

I often rode alone. I loved riding out near Mt. Rainier, where there is spectacular views and challenging singletrack. I would think about how I might be the only person out there, surrounded by not one thing that was human-made; and I liked those thoughts. Everything was natural. Returning to the car to load up after a ride, I was slowly re-introduced to humanity; the steel car, the paved road, the concrete retaining wall. And as I drove further away from Rainier and closer to Seattle, more engineering emerged; the freeways, the billboards, the malls, the skyscrapers; the explicit structure of everything. It just seemed, well, unnatural.

Watching Into The Wild tonight made me think of my riding days and how relaxing it felt being among dirt and trees and streams. I was never in search of anything deeper than a temporary escape, but Christopher McCandless was, and I thought that was cool. I think we all like to dream about doing something complete like he did. I know I do.

Things...

• 2 margaritas - home
• 1 can mhl - home
• 1 can mhl - J & D's house
• 1 can bud light - J & D's house

Cruisin'

• 1 Cazadores blanco with lime - Cactus
• 2 mojitos - Cactus
• 1 Corona - T & M's

...push...left...swerve...in...right...stand...speed!...down...up...swoop...miss...
...ring...turn...up...bob...right...down...sit...move!...lean...brake...slowwww...push...more...

I love riding my cruiser on Alki, especially when the sky is clear and blue and the sun is hot. When it's crowded, I love weaving in and out of the obstacles, whether it be people, pets, bikes, boards, blades, curbs, cars or concrete; it's all exciting. When it's deserted, I love easing back and forth across the path, taking my time, feeling the wind, watching the water. I love riding with one hand on the handlebar and the other on my leg, in the air, behind my back, holding my phone, spinning my iPod, indicating my turn.

I could ride for hours....

Thursday

• 1 bottle modelo especial - home
• 1 margarita - home
  

One Can High Life

• 1 can high life
  

Trivia

• 2 bottles Rolling Rock - a house in Des Moines
• 1 Imperial pint Guinness - Celtic Swell

"What word means 'using few words?'"

Click here.

Monday

• 0 drinks
  

Yvonne Patricia Wisemiller

• 1 bottle Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - home
• 1 bottle Belgium Ale - home
• 1 pint Scotch Ale - Elliott Bay Brewery

My mom loved to talk. A lot. She would get on a roll and never shut up! (some might say I take after her) It would get to the point where Michelle, Ken, and I would tune her out and add our "Yes"es, "Oh"s, and "Ummm, I can't remember."s whenever there was a pause in the "conversation." Sometimes she would catch on and she'd say "You're not listening are you?" in a somewhat irritated way, and then she'd get really quiet.

One story I love sharing with Ken and Michelle is the time that mom and I road-tripped to Yosemite National Park to do some camping. She had "just wanted to get out of the house", and thought it would be nice to do some hiking and sight seeing in Yosemite for a few days. I was in my early 20's, so I was past the age where being with your mother was an embarrassment, (for the most part), and we hadn't been to Yosemite in a long time, so it seemed like a perfect getaway. We drove the six hours up to her sister's house in Oakdale, CA (where the other Hershey's plant is located!), stayed overnight and then drove the few hours into Yosemite the next morning. Mom pretty much talked the entire time! I had planned to do some reading on the drive and had a book open and ready in my lap, but whenever I would begin to read it, she would start talking! I would listen intently and wait for her to take a break and after a few minutes of silence, I would think it was safe for me to try again, but no! As soon as I brought the book up and read a few sentences, she would start talking again! I really think she was doing this on purpose! It was like this for most of the drive into Yosemite - silence, "read", talk....silence, "read", talk...silence, "read", talk.

Talking was one of my mom's most memorable qualities; but driving was her most infamous. (Her brother-in-law even reminisced of her "speeding up and down the dusty back roads of fruit orchards as a teenager" at her funeral.) Driving up the twisty two-lane mountain roads to Yosemite, mom was tailgating a tour bus with the anger usually reserved for hornets. "WHY DOESN'T THIS BUS GO ANY FASTER!" "WHY DOESN'T IT PULL OVER!?" "CAN'T IT SEE THAT I'M RIGHT BEHIND IT!" These were blasted in between her bits of conversation directed toward interrupting my reading. At one point I got frustrated and said, "Why don't you just slow down? You're not going to pass and it's going the speed limit anyway." And she spurted, "I CAN'T slow down….this car doesn't GO any slower! If I don’t keep the pedal at this position the car will STOP!" She had a way of saying the most ridiculous and unbelievable things. I can't even remember if we ever got past that bus.

The way she talked was also comedy. She went through a stage where she over-enunciated every letter, especially 't's and 's's. She would say "fajitas" as "fa-hee-TAZ". Ken, Michelle, and I mimicked her by creating this phrase: "I have eaten (ea-TEN) fajitas (fa-hee-TAZ) in Santa Ana." (SAN-TAH Ana.) While she was busy over-enunciating some letters, she was busy dropping others altogether, such as the "g" from most verbs. "C'mon, let's get movin'!" or "Look at those guys over there...they're cruisin'. Yep, that's what they're doin'; cruisin'." or "Why are they ridin' in the middle of the street? They shouldn't be ridin' in the middle; this is HUN-TING-Ton!"

My mom had many ridiculous and unbelievable quotes, but some of my favorites are:

• When Michelle - California-tanned, blonde, and runner-thin - failed to get a loading-dock worker's attention when the three of us pulled up to the dock, mom sent her back telling her, "GET UP THERE AND SHOW SOME LEG!!"
  

• The time she let Ken, Michelle, and I know that since she'd gotten braces, Jim was a little nervous in, uh, bed.

• The perfect example of how two of her qualities crossed paths: We were driving back from LA one night and she's in the carpool lane cruisin' at about 80 mph and she's tailgatin' the car in front of us like it's Mark Harmon (one of her faves) and says seriously, "Yeah, I have nightblindness.....I can't see very well at night. Everything's real fuzzy..…..I don't need glasses, you know; because it's a night thing……I can see fine during the day, but.…....like right now, I can't see very well……I'm nightblind…..it's just real hard to see at night." and this goes on for about fifteen minutes; she's still doin' 80, she's still tailgatin'. I'm pushed as far back into my seat as I can go - foot stomped into the floor trying to hit that imaginary brake hoping we don't die.

The quality I admire most in my mom, however (other than her absolute love of all things chocolate), is her independence. It was she that drove alone through Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio in search of a graduate school that she could attend to get her teaching degree. She had always wanted to be a teacher. It was she that initiated the divorce and took two of her children and moved to Columbus, Ohio; a place she'd only been once. It was she that flew alone to Italy for her first time in Europe to meet a friend, only to miss her connection in New York and have to catch the next flight; all her luggage was lost and she had to borrow and buy clothes in Italy for a six-week trip. It was she that loaded up Ken and Michelle in March of one year to drive a barely-running Volvo station wagon from Columbus to Atlanta to visit me over spring break, only to have to turn around in Cincinnati because of snow. It was she that wanted to drive the U-Haul from Orange County to Tacoma when I moved here in 1994. I followed in my Tercel.

And it was she that suggested the trip to Yosemite. We had been to Yosemite several times and she had been many times as a child, but this was the first time it was just the two of us. We decided to day-hike one of the trails that would take us to one of the falls. We hiked together most of the way and when we reached the falls, I decided to continue on to the top of Half-Dome and she decided to go in a different direction towards another falls. Later that night after finding each other back at camp, she told me that she had met another solo woman hiker on the way and they had reached the falls; higher than she'd ever climbed and a falls she'd always wanted to see.

I still remember the joy she had in her voice when she told me.

Happy Mother's Day, mom.

Mother To Son

• 2 pints Rainier - Poggie Tavern

There's a hilarious scene in Napoleon Dynamite where Napoleon performs Bette Midler's "The Rose" as a member of the Helping Hands team. It's tender, it's funny, it's endearing. It was a great song choice for the movie and I laughed so hard during that scene. But whenever I hear "The Rose", it reminds me of my parent's divorce. It was the song that came on the radio right after Michelle and I told Ken that my mom and dad were ending their marriage of 13 years, and I've never forgotten that moment. Ken thought Michelle and I were playing a joke on him and to this day it pains me that he thought that this was in the league of the jokes we did play on him. He started crying and I don't remember what happened after that. Ken had just turned 10 years old, Michelle had been 8 for a couple of months, and I would be 13 in about four months. I know I was the first to be told about the divorce and Michelle was second. I'm not sure why Ken was third and I'm not sure why it was me and Michelle that told him.

Last week I watched "The Squid and the Whale" and I really enjoyed it, even though it was depressing. It was real, and that's what I liked about it. The parents separated and had joint custody of their kids. My parents never had joint custody. My mom took Michelle and Ken and moved to Columbus, Ohio where she went to OSU for her teaching degree. I stayed with my dad in Lawrenceville, Georgia until we sold the house and moved to Stone Mountain, Georgia. Ken, Michelle and I really had no choice about who we were going to live with. My mom wanted all three of us, but my dad wanted me to stay with him. The whole situation was fucked, really. My mom was left with so little and now looking back at it I realize how unfair it was to her. I always felt guilty visiting them because they were on food stamps and had to really watch their money, while my dad, not well off by any standards, seemed to at least have some freedom financially.

Even though money was tight, Ken, Michelle, and I used to have so much fun during the summers when I would visit. My mom worked at OSU and we would sometimes go visit her on campus. During the day we would play around the apartment complex, go swimming, create our own adventures, and go to the nearby grocery store and eat the free samples. One summer we wanted to start a business, and I thought the best way would be to deliver food and drinks to the various apartments. Even though Coke is my cola of choice, Pepsi was cheaper to buy, so I hand-wrote "Ice cold Pepsi delivered to your apt." on numerous index cards and dropped them into the mail slots of the neighboring buildings. Not one person responded, to my bewilderment; I thought it was a for sure tactic! Ken and Michelle still to this day laugh and yell at me, "ICE COLD PEPSI DELIVERED TO YOUR APT." They love that I abbreviated apartment and they love pronouncing it "apt". And they love even more that I didn't get one damn customer.

When I think of my parent's divorce, I hate (and that's not a strong enough word right now) that those six years I spent living separately from Ken, Michelle, and my mom, I will never, ever get back. That time was stolen from me. It was stolen from my brother, my sister, and my mom and there is nothing I can do about it. It's gone and I feel cheated out of my time with them. When my mom died I felt that I never had enough time with her. I was 31, she was 54 and there were so many things we could have done, could have experienced, could have shared. But I know this is always the case, no matter how old it is when someone dies. ...... The ironic piece is (and I just realized this in the past week) that if my parents hadn't gotten divorced, I wouldn't have the pictures and letters from my mom that I have now. Would I rather have had those six years, or the pictures and letters and notes and cards that will live eternally?

The first Christmas after the divorce was final, my mom gave me a copy of The Way, a Catholic Bible. On the first page she copied the below poem for me and I have never failed to read it without tears, but it has never failed to give me strength. "Well, son, I'll tell you:"

the non-shower baby-shower

• 1 Tres Generaciones Anejo w/rlj - home
• 1 shot Sauza - M & T's
• 1 shot Jack Daniels - M & T's
• 2 margaritas -M & T's
• 4-5 cans mhl - M & T's

Thirst-day

• 2 pints Rainier - West 5
• 2 red wines - Capers
• 1 champagne - Clementine

Art Walk: 'Nuff Said.

-----

• 0 drinks
  

SUCK films

• 1 shot Jim Beam - Rendezvous
• 2 pints PBR - Rendezvous
• 1 Dark Side (Ketel 1 vodka & grenadine) - Rendezvous

The Phantom Menace was made less bad; but it was still bad.

Cinco de Mayo

• 1 shot Aha Toro blanco w/lime - Matatdor
• 1 pint Dos Equis - Matador
• 1 Herradura Margarita - Matador
  

Sunday

• 1 bottle Pacifico - Casa Feliz (Alki)
  

Saturdaze

• 1 can High Life - home
• 2 bottles Rainier - Admiral Pub
  

The Squid and the Whale

• 2 bottles Corona - HRS4B

Susan and I watched The Squid and the Whale tonight. I'm going to write about this later in the week, I'm sure, but it was a collision of memories for a few reasons: divorce and separation. Separation specifically meaning the separateness of myself from Ken, Michelle, and my mom. I was in Atlanta, Georgia and they were in Columbus, Ohio. One of the ways we kept in touch was

writing.

I have every letter my mom sent me during that time and I have every letter that Ken and Michelle sent me during that time. E-mail didn't exist and phone calls were expensive, so, we wrote. And I'm glad we did, because it's the best thing my mom left with me. I have her thoughts and experiences that were written exclusively to me. It was a journal of her life at that time and it's the most personal thing she could ever leave me. I also have her tiny, green Holly Hobbie plan book from 1966 - a year before I was born. She was at Fresno State and many of her notes relate to college. I sometimes feel like I'm intruding when I read it, although there was nothing she would be embarrassed about.

Later, when e-mail was popular and phone calls were less expensive, I resorted to this type of communication. Fortunately I printed out some of my mom's e-mails and I have those. Michelle and I would e-mail a lot, and most of those e-mails were so hilarious - Michelle is pure comedy! - that I kept them. And I'm glad I did. They're still on my online mail folder and the earliest one I have is from April 26th, 1998 - just over ten years to the day.

So, even though my hook is "How much is that guy drinking?", the most important aspect is that I'm getting my thoughts down. And I'm glad I am. I think I'm gonna start that baby blog after all...

~ ~ SUN! ~ ~

• 3 pints Olympia - Ballard Loft
• 1 pint PBR - Hattie's Hat

The Spring Break journal - they're really more like notes - was one of the the first journals that I ever kept. I'm not sure what provoked me to write about my trip, but I'm glad I did. Reading about my experiences and thoughts that I had back then is a bit embarrassing, a bit funny, and a bit sad. I thought it was funny that on the two or three occasions that I described girls, I wrote awesome girls, (underlined awesome). Like, they were so awesome that I even have to underline it to make that point! That I used the word "awesome" in the first place was even funnier. I still use the word awesome though. How dull is that?!

Although I don't journal regularly - stop>>Wait! But this is a journal. Well, I suppose so. I don't have the patience for handwriting, nor the strength to do it for long periods of time (I'm serious!), but I've always enjoyed typing. It was one of the skills I had in high school. 2 things: I used to type my friend Ted's typing homework for $2 lesson (waaaay undercharged him), and I represented my school in a typing championship. I didn't win. Anyway, maybe part of the reason I didn't journal regularly was because of the handwriting handicap. I think that I was just waiting for the technology to catch up. :) So, although I don't journal regularly, I've kept notes, journals, and writings for many trips and vacations. They're stashed in the basement and I've recently found them, along with a lot of other writing that I have. I even found a children's poem that I wrote in 1989; I'm thinking about framing it for the kid's room.

Christopher has kept journals his whole life. They are all handwritten and I know he has filled up dozens of journals. He first talked about them when I met him over 20 years ago and he still refers to them now on occasion. I can't imagine journaling that consistently, but I would love to have the opportunity to go back and read about my life.

I have a baby due in mid-August. Some friends have recommended that I keep a journal of my thoughts about the baby and the preparation and other things. "Hmmm....I think I'll call it 'Baby-Blog'...." j/k. This is something I would like to do, however I'm not sure how I'm going to go about it. Do I write in a book? (hate handwriting). Do I blog? (don't want to make those thoughts public. could make it a private blog tho'. I'm already overwhelmed with the blogs I have!) Do I type it in Word and save it on the computer? (probably what I'll end up doing, but I tend to write more (ugh) when I'm set free on the keyboard.)

And so with that; I'm out.

Wednesday 2008/1986

• 2 margaritas - HRS
• 1 bottle Corona - HRS
• 1 bottle Corona - home
• 1 Cazadores and Rose's on ice - home

Spring Break PCB continued...
This was my last journal entry for the week and I was a little drunk when I wrote it. My handwriting was sloppy-ish and the way it's written definitely sounds like I was buzzed. What do you think?

Wednesday
This is definitely the life. Awoke about 9 the other day. Layed out for awhile. Went shopping. Got Mimi’s license plate. Looks sharp. Went swimming in the pool and found an orange innertube. Doug found 2 bucks at the Chateau which reminds me that he owes me $2.50. We’re still getting tan. Last night we went down to the Chateau. 1/2 of Parkview High and Shiloh High are down there. Tracy Stanley, Michelle Casto, Valerie Sanders are all here. Stephanie Burgess and Rene George are here. They remembered me from Tanya’s party. Doug + I walked along the strip - you get more attention that way – about 3 to 4 miles worth with Chris Clark and everyone. I drank about 2 beers and felt my first real buzz. Ed’s party got busted. They made them take the wall down. That reminds me, when Doug + I were walking along the beach, 2 girls were walking their dogs. One of them looked good. Doug had the camera so he asked if he could take a picture of the dog. Girl smiled + said yes. She knew Doug was taking a picture of her. Doug told me to hop in the picture but I’m so damn stupid. Just like when Stephanie was rubbing my leg and again when she fell onto me I didn’t do anything. I’m so damn stupid. Some girl gave me a ring when I was walking the strip. Back to Ed’s party. Nothing was going on. We hid 5 cases of beer under the bed. They were playing quarters. The cop opened the door and Ed had this fucking funny beer hat on. He looked so damn funny and he tried walking out the door onto the balcony. He looked so goofy. The coop caught him and told him to get back into the hotel. It was funny as shit. Anyway, the cop left. He was making everyone pour out the beer that they had. After we’d walked the strip – we’d been going to B.K. and McDonalds – we went to Chris Clark’s room. Tracy Stanley kept drinking this tequila and Coke and smoking. Doug was getting tired so we had to go. It was only 10:25. There was supposed to be a party at the Chateau at 11:00. I was pretty tired too. We also had some “hunch punch”. Oh yes, walking along the strip with about 50 other people Doug was holding a beer and he saw his parents drive by. Luckily they did not see him. 2 girls gave me, Doug, and Black a ride to Bikini Beach. Black knew one of them though. That is about all I can remember now. Well, 2 nights ago, the power went off in all the rooms. I really had to go to the bathroom so I walked outside and went next door and up 3 flights and went to the bathroom in th corner. I really had to go though. Saw my 1st real live drug dealer. 2 scummy guys in a scummy Cadillac. Wanted to know if I got high. We said yes as I looked on like an asshole as usual. They were stoned. They wanted $30 for 1/4 hash. Earlier on the Chateau beach we saw 2 girls drunk as hell falling in the sand. Also on the strip some girl gave me a ring.

Tuesday 2008/1986

• 1 can MHL - home
• 1 bottle Corona - home

Spring Break PCB continued...

Tuesday
Layed in the sun for about 45 min. Doug still hasn’t gotten in the water yet. We came upstairs and layed out on the deck for awhile. There were 4 totally awesome girls laying out in a row below us. I took a picture of them from above and they spotted me. One of them kept staring but no big deal. Then one girls undid her top so Doug tried taking another picture. He was hanging right over the edge and one of the girls stared right up and spotted him. She told the other girls and they all stared at me because Doug ran back inside. What a trip. We went shopping at Alvin's Magic Mountain Mall. We bought a few cards and stuff. They had some “dicknose” glasses there. Played a few video games. I got something like 53,000 on Donkey Kong. Went to see “Best of Times” last night. It was so-o-o-o stupid. Went to a mall before the movie and bought a card for Mimi. We haven’t seen Michelle Casto or Melissa or anyone from Shiloh yet. Kim, Kim, and Pam are supposed to be here tomorrow.

Monday 2008/1986

• 1 bottle O'Doul's (does this count?)

Spring Break PCB continued...

Monday
Woke up around 9:00. Ate breakfast. Went out to catch some rays. Walked along the beach. I got a back sunburn. Not bad though. Went over to Ed’s place. Everyone was crashed. Looked at girls through binoculars. Left and went next door with some Shiloh (ed note: Shiloh was my high school) kids. Watched them play quarters. Chris Clark was there. Someone threw up and crashed in the bathtub. When everyone was out, Doug tried calling Jamie about 5 times. He got a hold of David and Dafney (ed note: D & D were managers at the Burger King (BK Steakhouse) where we worked). Ate someone’s sandwich and then left. Came back home and crashed. Doug had a hangover. He yelled whenever I mentioned beer. I prescribed “2 aspirins and Stairway to Heaven.” He felt better. Went cruisin’ again. We got behind some girls in a truck who were having a good time. Doug saw Amy and Julie Cole. Later we were following a bunch of girls in a new T.A. (Trans Am). They had "Spring Break ’86" written on it. Once, Doug’s foot accidentally eased off the brake and we barely hit them. One of the girls hopped out, accused Doug of being drunk, which he was not. Told him to get off the road and they were gonna call the cops. Doug yelled back just as loud. She got back into her car but not before kicking Doug’s car about 3 times. Stupid P.C. bitch. It was funny though. Oh yea, earlier Doug did a 360 in front of the comb(?) office about 2 times. He was real proud. That night we came home and walked along the beach for 15 minutes. No one was there so we came back in. Fell asleep. Doug’s parents accused us of drinking the night before because they heard me say “hangover”. Oh well. I decided to buy a boogie board, surfboard, Porsche and a jet ski. Doug just wants Jamie. Jeff Kirkpatrick snorted cocaine. Doug funneled a beer for the first time. Pretty damn quick too. Doug also instructed 2 guys how to split some pot evenly. Ed also has a Busch beer wall in his window. Had about 133 cans. Doug’s money stash is $77. Jon’s: don’t want to count it. Doug mailed postcard to Jamie. Had a picture of him on the front.

Sunday 2008/1986

• 1 can MHL - LBH
• 1 can Bud Light - LBH
• 1 pint McMenamin's nitro stout - Gearhart, OR
• 1 bottle MHL - LBT
• 1 Beam rocks - LBT
• 2 glasses red wine - LBH
• ?

Spring Break PCB continued...

3 – Easter Sunday – 86
Got up at 7:00 this morning. Swam in freezing water. Layed out. Got a little tan. Went to see Ed tonight. (ed note: Ed was one of Doug's friends. I can't remember why I wrote so much about him on this trip.) Stoned out of this world. (ed. note: Ed was stoned. I didn't smoke.) Cruised the “strip”. Doug was called “faggot” by some drunk dudes while I was called “skeeterhead” for I don’t know what reason. Driving along the strip we saw 2 dudes with a cooler of beer. Doug asked, “Got a beer man? Can I bum a beer?” Dude gave him one. Layed out on a rental seat. A lifeguard came along and kicked us off. Doug said, “Comma ca va?” I said, “Oui.” He believed us. Girls whistled at us. We danced on the porch and ran into the beach. Some guy wrecked his car and made it clear. Doug mooned my camera and that’s why we didn’t get laid tonight. Tried to find Doug’s brother at the Chateau. (ed note: I think the Chateau was the party hotel that everyone tried to get into.) Tried to steal a card from black lady’s cart. Doug + I decided to buy an island. We also want to sleep out on the beach before we leave. 3 awesome girls in a yellow I-rock Z yelled at me, “Can I borrow your shorts!” I didn’t hear them at all. They asked 5 times – finally Doug said only if you take them off. They said, “That’s okay.” Doug is still 2-tone. (ed. note: He drove six hours to PCB with one arm (guess which one?) out the window.) Deanna (ed. note: Deanna is Doug’s sister.) got sunburned. I’m still hanging in there. Doug’s mom says we laugh too much about personal things. She also says that we’re not coming here again. Doug caught a fish. (In his dad’s boat.) Ed + his friends were stoned-made up “eyeboogers”. (ed note: The following is an addition made by Doug) Jon fell asleep in the loft and Doug poured shaving cream on his hand. When Jon woke up he rubbed his face and scratched his feet and the shaving cream went everywhere. Doug had another dream about Jamie! Jon wants to rent a surfboard. Jon’s money status is $70. Doug’s is $76.

Saturday 2008/1986

• 2 bottles Bud Light - LBH
• 2 bottles Carta Blanca - LBH
• 1 bottle Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - LBH
• 1 bottle Miller High Life - Long Beach Tavern
• 2 pints Bud Light - LBT
• 2 cans MHL - LBH
• 1 vanilla vodka, juice, triple sec mix - LBH
• ? cans/bottles/pints/other

Yesterday I left off an important beach that I had thought about earlier in the day, but forgot when I was typing: Alki Beach! The first time I remember visiting Alki was a day after school in my early years at HRS. I was told there was a beach a few miles away, so I took my rollerblades down to Alki and rollerbladed on the path; however, back then the path didn't go the complete length that it does now and I was kind of ticked off at the time. It goes completely through now and it's a wonderful place to rollerblade (and run, bike, and walk).

Doug and I made the trip to Panama City Beach during "Spring Break 1986". It was my senior year and I only had a few months left in high school. I also had only a few months left in Georgia, as I would be moving to Huntington Beach to live with my mom, step-dad (Jim), Ken, and Michelle. I kept a journal(?) during Doug's and my stay in PCB. We drove down in Doug's Pontiac Firebird. The next five postings contain the complete and unedited version of my 5-day trip.

3 - Easter Eve – 86
We arrived at P.C.B. at 3:00. We unpacked, talked to a blond next door (Doug did) and walked the beach. About 1 mile down we ran into some awesome college girls. Too bad there were guys too. On the way out, Doug “ow’ed” a girl who turned around and stared. 3 girls passed us and I kicked a sandcastle, which I didn’t know belonged to them. One of them gave me an eat shit look. Last night we drove 1/2 the strip for about 1 hr. Before that we ate with Doug's family at Bonanza. We flirted with the cashier. I got gas pains from laughing at Doug’s dad cause he was staring at a girl with tits like Jamie’s. (ed. note: Jamie was Doug’s girlfriend). We came home after the strip and went to sleep. Doug talked about Jamie until he fell asleep. He also brought a picture of her with him. Awwwww. - jb

Beaches

• 1 bottle Bud Light - Long Beach House
• 1 bottle Carta Blanca - LBH
• 1 glass zinfandel - The Depot, Long Beach

This weekend, while in LB, one of my friends asked "Why can you drive on the beach? I've never known anywhere that you can drive on the beach." Upon him saying this, I immediately thought of Daytona Beach, Florida. This is the only other beach that I know of on which you can drive. The similarities end there however. Daytona's water is warm - almost hot, the sand is yellow, the sun is penetrating, and the humidity is barely tolerable. People also wear swimsuits. I don't necessarily like the idea of driving on the beach, however it is a lot of fun. The more I thought about beaches, the more I realized that I've been to an awful lot of them.

Daytona Beach was, and probably still is, a popular spring break beach. It's on the eastern side of Florida. Panama City Beach is on the southern side of Florida's panhandle and is also a very popular spring break destination, especially for high schoolers' breaking out of Hotlanta, because of it's six hour drive time. This is where my best friend Doug M. and I partied(?) my senior year of high school. I was 18; Doug was 17, and the only reason my dad let me go was because Doug's family was also going. They were staying in a separate hotel however.
{To Be Continued on Saturday...}

I always love going to Long Beach. It's not the "best" beach I've been to, but it's the one where I've continually had the most fun and some of the best memories. I was thinking about the beaches that I've been to that hold great memories. A list (in no particular order other than the way they come into my mind):

• Long Beach, WA
• Huntington Beach, CA
• Venice Beach, CA - unique sights, excellent rollerblading, went here often.
  
• Santa Monica Beach, CA - beautiful, spacious, excellent rollerblading
  
• Manhattan Beach, CA - Where I lived my last year in California before moving to Washington. A good sandy beach, but the smooth pavement was awesome for rollerblading. My living arrangements were interesting. I shared a house with three girls, one of them being an ex-girlfriend, kind of.
  
• Waikiki, Oahu - My first and only time in Honolulu to visit Craig, a friend from HB who had begun a new life there.
  
• Santa Cruz, CA - I still remember riding the roller coaster as a kid, and as an adult. The sea lions are easy to see under the pier.
  
• Capistrano Beach, CA - This may be my first memory of ever playing in the waves. We were visiting my dad's aunt in San Juan Capistrano and had gone to the beach for the day. I was maybe in 2nd grade?
  
• Cannon Beach, OR - A beautiful beach with great memories.
• Ormond Beach, FL - A surreal night with Doug and friends.
  
• Carmel, CA - Have been here several times, but the one that sticks in my head is when I took Susan on her first trip to California and we stayed overnight (in the back of the 4Runner!) in a parking lot in Carmel. The next morning we brushed our teeth in a public bathroom and ate breakfast at a cozy restaurant that I had always loved. A few years later we went back and stayed in a proper hotel, but I'll never forget that first trip.
• Laguna Beach, CA - Drive to the highest point and there's a hidden overlook in which you can see the entire town. It's beautiful at night.
• Ipanema Beach, Rio, Brazil - Doug won a free vacation here and I was his sidekick. Unforgettable.
  
• Copacabana, Rio, Brazil - I have pictures somewhere...
• Big Beach, Maui, HI - Expansive (it's big!) beach, and, it's close to...
  
• Little Beach, Maui, HI - Secluded. A great place to go naked. :)
• Some beach in Spain - Got drunk, followed some girls, was robbed of my watch, almost lost my way home, stumbled into our room at 4 A.M. Ken, Greg, and Tom were already asleep.
• Corfu, Greece - This was Ken's, Greg's, Tom's and my last stop in our one month backpacking adventure in Europe. We hung out on this one beach in Corfu for three days. One morning I woke up earlier than the rest and walked down to the beach. In the distance I saw a lone girl sitting on the sand just out of reach of the water. I have a picture of her in my Europe picture album. I wrote a poem about her for a writing class I took in 1989. It's posted above.

There are many other great beach memories that I have, but for now they're out of reach. "Sea"-ya later!

The LB

• 0 drinks

and I'm off to Long Beach.

Wednesday

• 1 Imperial pint Guinness - Dubliner

So much for four days sobriety. Not that that was what I was going for...

I could write more - wanna write more - but the thing is that when you get many days behind in the writing, especially on a daily blog, you have to catch up and by the last day; you find yourself wanting to just get off the computer and get a life. Especially when you have other things to get done.

On Target

• 0 drinks

I usually stay away from Target, you know, just because; but it was imperative for me to purchase CIB (Candy In Bulk) for my students, who are taking the WASL. This is what went down in the candy aisle:

A couple who must have been in their 50's (but looking older than that) emerges from the end of the aisle that I was inhabiting. The old guy is using the cart to hold himself up and blurts out in a deep angry voice, "CANDY!" The old woman immediately releases back, in a shrill voice and just as angry, "YOU GOT ENOUGH OF IT AT HOME IN THAT DRAWER!" Then she settles down a bit and looks up and down the rows of candy. "Look at all this FANCEE candaay they got here! They don't have that stuff that we like....that Reser's (said with a sharp 's', like Rezers)." Then she grabbed a bag of something and then walked off, old man still in tow with the cart.

The second I heard "CANDY!", I knew I was in for something sweet. I was trying so desperately to suck on every word that he and she said, because I knew that it was going to be delicious.

Target. You gotta love it.

Speaking of candy, Madonna's new album Hard Candy "drops" (haha...always love/hate that term) on Tuesday the 29th. Brian, being as sweet as he is, supplied us all with an we're-all-going-to-jail-as-accomplices-if-he-is-caught-because-we-
downloaded-an-unreleased-album "advance copy". At first - didn't like it much. Now - love it. I think I may have blown my sub in my car. Thanks Madonna. You owe me a sub.

Baby got rocked

• 0 drinks
  

Baby heard some rock and roll tonight. Saw The Raconteurs at Neumos and it was amazing. Jack White is incredible.

Brokeback

• 0 drinks

Not much happened today. No, I'm serious - not much happened.
Well, I did watch Brokeback Mountain. For the first time! Yes, really. I know, I know... me - lover of all things gay and cowboy, and I finally get around to it. One of the scenes I keep thinking about: when Jack goes to see Ennis for the first time after they left the mountain; four years later; and Ennis comes down the stairs towards Jack and then grabs him and pushes him into the side of the house to start kissing him. That was it. I don't think I've cried so spontaneously at a movie, almost ever. Intense scene, beautiful movie. Wonderful.

Don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys.

• 2 bottles MHL - home
• 1 bottle Carta Blanca - home
• 2 Herradura Anejo with Rose's lime juice & ice - home
• 1 (or 2?) tequila lemonades - HRS
• 1 Jello shot - HRS
• 2 bottles Bud Light - Yen Wor Village
• 1 Jim Beam rocks - Yen Wor Village

and those are the drinks I rEmeMbER. The auction was a corral of craziness and karaoke was a kick. "Rebel Yell" and "Mama, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys" were the songs(?) of the evening. No mention of karaoke suicide(!), a safe arrival home, and zero headache in the morning - a great night.

- And who does Jello shots anymore? They're not even suitable for vegetarians. Apparently they're all the rage in California tho'. (I overheard this at a grocery store in Raymond a few years ago. This woman is telling her friend, "Oh yeaaah, Jello shots?! You never heard of them? They're all the rage in California!")

Get Outta Dodge

• 1 bottle MHL - West 5
• 2 whiskey sours - home

I read somewhere that every man goes through a country music phase. Whenever I'm asked what type of music I like, I generally answer, "Pretty much everything except for country." And this is true. It's not that I don't like country music, it's more that I prefer other types of music to country. A few years back when I was building our addition; our contractor, Jim, was a country music fan, so most days it was country music that we listened to. At first I was put off by it, but then I began to look forward to hearing a number of songs that would play regularly throughout that summer, including the song posted above, "Alcohol" by Brad Paisley. I even found myself humming or singing them long after Jim had left for the day. Still, I don't think I'd consider that summer, my "country music phase".

Saturday is our school auction and the theme is Country-Western. A few weeks ago I excitedly explored Red Light for some country western gear and ever since then I can't seem to get "country" out of my head. I bought a pair of cowboy boots (of which I've always wanted a pair), hat, shirt, belt, and buckle. I was hoping to find a pair of Wrangler jeans in my size, but no such luck - my Levi's that I bought several years ago, but have worn only a few times, will have to do. All these things began to bring back memories. Maybe I HAVE gone through a country phase, but only in "bits". (haha)

My dad bought me a pair of cowboy boots when I was a kid. They weren't real shit-kickers - they had a blunt toe - but they were boots and they had a silver buckle on the side. He used to make me polish and protect them every weekend saying, "Those boots will last a whole lot longer if you take care of them." I hated doing it, thinking it took me much too long and that I could certainly be doing something else with my time, but as I think back, I remember taking pride in the process of polishing them. I had a routine where I would start with the blunt toe, then work my way above the upper, and then around the back of the boot. I'd finish by rubbing across the top of the boot; then up the height. And then I'd start on the left boot. It was time consuming and messy, and I always waited to be told to do it; I'd never voluntarily pull out my boots and start shining. Today, I do voluntarily pull out my boots (and shoes) and start shining. I'm faster at it, and I still use the same routine - I start with the toe, work my way around the uppers and so on. As much as I hated doing it when I was younger, my dad was right; my shoes do last much longer.

My dad's cowboy phase began my cowboy phase. I lived in Garden City, Kansas from 4th through 6th grades. The town itself was a flat and dusty, tumble-weeded area. For a kid my age, however, it was a town of opportunity. Garden City was most famous for "The World's Largest Outdoor Concrete Swimming Pool". It was at Lee Richardson Zoo and was half a city block long and held 2 1/2 million gallons of water. It had four diving boards too! A K-mart just a block down from our house was where Ken, Michelle, and I would spend hours playing "Hide and Seek" inside the store. Mostly it was Michelle and I playing "Hide from Ken" and Ken would fall for it every time and then leave the store in bitter sadness. K-mart also acted as our vegetable stand. Ken, Michelle and I were in 4-H (and I can't remember what those four "H's" stood for - hands, heart, ??, but my mom could tell you - and she would too; every chance she could) and would Little-Red-Wagon our home-grown vegetables to the front of K-mart and sell them to customers. In the winter, it snowed frequently, so I shoveled snow from neighbors' driveways. I charged $5 to plow a driveway. I also delivered newspapers and earned a nickel for each one I delivered. Garden City was also famous for it's stockyards, and did they smell! Every Wednesday I could smell the death of cattle creeping through our school playground. It WAS unmistakably cowboy country.

Fifty miles east of Garden City was Dodge City. THE Dodge City, as in "Get outta Dodge!" But to get outta Dodge, you first had to get to Dodge, and go to Dodge we did. Somewheres between Garden City and Dodge City, my dad acquired a cowboy hat. A real one, a Stetson. It's the big, brown one I'm wearing in the pictures above. They were taken outside of Garden City somewhere. We were all gussied up and my dad threw us in the truck and we all went out looking for some scenery that would complement our clothing. This was probably taken at the side of the road after jumping over a fence and aligning ourselves with the windmill and sunflowers. The picture at the very top was taken in Puyallup. They don't make plastic, bouncy horsies like they used to. My first and second few bits of country.

My third few bits of country were Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, among others. Remember "Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell? Ken, Michelle and I all harmonized, "Like a Rhinestone Cowboy!!! DUH DUH DUN!! Riding out on a horse in a star-spangled rodeooooohhh!" in those long car trips across the prairie. As much as I don't listen to country music now, those early songs have always stayed with me. Too much in fact....Waylon Jenning's "Luckenbach, Texas" keeps repeating in my head over and over. I can't get rid of it! I've always liked Willie's voice, although I own only a few of his albums. Spirit is intoxicating and The Troublemaker is a giddy-up of country-gospel goodness. Dad also listened to Hank Williams II (Bocephus!) when I was in high school and I complained about it often. Ironically, I'm going to see Hank III at the Showbox in June. (Dad's not going.)

My grandfather (Dad's dad) has written a book about Billy the Kid, called The Kid With Fast Hands: a carefully researched history of Billy the Kid with fictional dialogue and incidental action. The elaborate and overly-accurate title makes me laugh although I have not yet read the entire book. My brother says it's good and contains quite an amount of humor. It's self-published and there are also two quizzes to accompany the book, the second of which is shown here at Amazon. It ranks 3,777,473th in sales, so I guess there isn't an overwhelming demand for quizzes on a kid who has fast hands. I wouldn't expect there to be.

However, what this school auction has done, is revive an interest in most all things Western for me. I'm going to read that Billy the Kid book and I'm going to pull out some Waylon and Willie and I'm going to rent some old (and new) westerns and I'm going to wear that belt and buckle and boots long after the auction is over - just to enjoy. Maybe this is my "country music (and other things) phase", but more likely, it's just my fourth or fifth bit of country in a phase that will last a lifetime.

Awesome, Blossom!

• an assortment of sours (whiskey) - home
• one margarita, small - home

Why whiskey sours? Why not amaretto sours? (which I drank a lot of in college, incidentally, as my refreshing, time-to-sober-up, end-of-the-night drink. This didn't make a lot of sense. Most people drank water or coffee, I drank amaretto sours. Umm, yeah.) So, whiskey sours...Saturday is our school auction and I rounded up a posse of people over to our house for a little fandango (look it up). The auction theme is country-western and whiskey sours seem like a good match. While looking for recipes online, I found this one which I have reposted below:

- My dad would take a 4 oz can of frozen lemonade, dump it into a blender filled with ice, refill the empty lemonade can with whiskey, dump it into the blender, mix until all the ice has been chopped up, serve in a pony glass with a cherry, and enjoy!

Then he would go and make himself a Manhattan, the Whiskey Sour was for my Mom and Aunt..... -

hahahahaha! (but I'm still gonna make me some sours.)

I was watching me some tv tonight and a commercial for Chili's came on. I generally shy away from Vegas-sized restaurants such as these, but as I watched the commercial I suddenly was intrigued by the possibility that I too, could be a participant in their food and fun. "C'mon!" it urged. "We're FuN! We're tasty! Come party with us! Try our Awesome Blossom! Try our Wings! Try our Texas cheese fries!" And I kind of got sucked in for a second. But then I realized that any place who deep fries an entire oversized onion and serves it as an appetizer, is not the place for me.

22 ounces of pleasure

• 1 22 oz. bottle Asahi Extra Dry - Blue C Sushi

I lOvE the 22 ounce bottle! What an invention! Bigger than the 12, smaller than the 40; fits comfortably in the hand! The Japanese and the Indian know how to bottle a beer I tell ya! Drunk straight from the bottle, it's the casual way to go. Pour it in a glass for a formal situation. Drink two and you've had 44 ounces, yet when asked how much you've had to drink, you can say "Two beers". I love it!

Inothernews...

I can't believe it's only Wednesday. Fuck! This week is going by so slowly! Plus, I am behind in things that I have to do. Not really important things, but just things.

Indian Tuesday

• 1 shot Herradura Reposado - home
• 1 bottle Modelo Especial - home
• 1 22 oz. bottle Kingfisher - Maharaja

Indian food is goooooood.

BLuE mOndaY

• 1 bottle MHL - home

For what it's worth, I also had a veggie dog (with sweet relish and mustard).

another overcast day

• 1 pint cask conditioned Boundary Bay IPA - Elliott Bay Brewing Company
• 1 Basil Haydens rocks - home
  

Baby Sittin'

• 1 bottle MHL - Jeff & Lisa's house
  
• 1 bottle Modelo Especial - home

TGIF

• 1 shot Partida Reposado - Cactus
• 1 bottle Pacifico - Cactus
• 1 margarita - Cactus
  
• 1 pint Dos Equis - Cactus
• 2 bottles Miller High Life - Jeff & Lisa's house

Karaoke Suicide?

• 1 pint Sierra Nevada ale - Talarico's Pizza
• 4 bottles Rainier - Admiral Pub
• 1 shot Hussong's Reposado - Admiral Pub
• 1 bottle Lite beer (from Miller) - Yen Wor Village

• Otherside - RHCP - YWV
• Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi - YWV
• Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' - Journey - YWV
• In My Life - Beatles - YWV

The Karaoke host announced, "Jon, Karaoke suicide" as I finished the song Wanted Dead or Alive. I'm not sure what this meant, but at the time I thought it couldn't be good - like, I just committed suicide by singing the song. Friends however said that they thought it was when a person suggests a song for a friend and that friend doesn't know what it will be. Either way, it probably wasn't one of my better performances. I had heard it sung before and thought, as I was drunkingly yelling and spitting out the lyrics, "That's an easy song to sing! I could do that!" Well, I couldn't, and now my voice lies dormant and humbled.

Path to the Dark(East)Side

No drinks today. Ran for 35 minutes. Drove to Bell Square. Checked out their Macy*s. Men's department sucked. Bought some jeans.

It's all Swell

• 1 bottle Modelo Especial - home
  
• 1 Imp. pint Guinness Stout - Celtic Swell
• 1 Imp. pint Tetley's Ale - Celtic Swell
• 1 Jim Beam rocks - Celtic Swell

A little pub trivia at the Celtic Swell tonight.

Monday

• 1 shot Tres Generaciones Anejo - home
• 1 bottle Modelo Especial - home
  

Nothing special happened today, except for the drinking of the Especial.

Estupendo!

• 2 bottles Modelo Especial - home

I first drank this beer at SOJO's house a few weeks ago. I've drunk Negro Modelo before, but it has a heavy taste and I'm not too fond of it. Especial was refreshingly tasty however, and I excitedly proclaimed to Michelle:
"This is good!"
She said, "I know. "
And then I said, "I've had Negro Modelo before, but never this."
And then she said, "Hmmm."
Then I go, "I don't think they sell it in Washington. They sell Negro Modelo though."
And then she goes, "That sucks. You should look for it anyway."
And then I go, "I will, but I don't think I'll find it there. I'll check."

Of course when I returned home, I forgot to check. However, when I was at Safeway on Sunday, after picking up tacos and taco salads at Taco del Mar (and in the delightfully Mexican food eating-and-drinking mood that I was), I decided to stroll the beer aisle when I noticed Modelo Especial! Cases on sale for $13.99! Estupendo! As I always say, "If you're going to eat Mexican, you've got to drink Mexican."

Burien Baby!

• 2 pints Highline IPA (cask conditioned) - Elliott Bay Brewery, Burien
• 1 shot Herradura Reposado - home
  
• 1 shot Cazadores Reposado - home

Took a walk around downtown Burien today as the 4Runner was getting it's 5000 mile service. Spotted some Mexican food restaurants that I just have to try. If El Rinconsito is as good as it's website...

Vegas Baby!

• 2 pints Manny's Ale - West 5

"21" is the Hollywood version of "Bringing Down the House", a fun and interesting book about how a group of MIT students developed their own card-counting strategy and would fly to Vegas every weekend and bring home tens of thousands of dollars. The book was really good because you got the real story and how it all began. The movie was pretty good in it's own way, but I wanted it to be flashier and more energetic. It was flashy, and somewhat energetic, but it seemed like more of a "made-up movie" than one based on a true story. The movie didn't really follow the book closely, but if it had, it would've been better. I think what it did was make me want to re-read the book. And go back to Vegas.

Baja Fresh!

• 1 bottle Pacifico - MnM's house
• 1 bottle Corona - MnM's house
• 1 shot Don Julio Reposado - MnM's house

What's with all the "Baja" lately?

I Ran.

• No drinkies today; instead, I ran.

Death Race 2000!

• 1 shot Tres Generaciones Anejo - home
• 3 bottles MHL - The Rendezvous (SUCK Films)