Funkadelic Freestylings of another sort...

Serenity

2008-07-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

Parents and Moxie

2008-06-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

My parents are coming into town today. I've been awake far too long and really should be sleeping but I need to go to the RMV (It's what Massachusetts calls the DMV, but for some reason they like changing it to R. Like a pirate car place.

We're going to make a movie called Dial M for Pirates, it's about a bunch of illiterate pirates.

Anyways, it'll be nice seeing my mum and pop again, they're out here specifically for an interview as my parents may be moving to MA in the next couple of months. How weird would that be? That I moved to Boston and then they moved out after me because they wanted to still be in my life. Ha. What this also means is I'll have a car. I will only be using the car for going to and from work and for those once in a while trips to Maine or Vermont. Speaking of which!

http://www.moxiefestival.com/schedule.html

July 11th and the 12th is the Moxie Festival in Lisbon Maine and I am going to go no matter what but I would love to get a couple of people who wanna come for a road trip! Let me know if you're interested, it's a super fun festival and you get super cool t-shirts and stuff too! Moxie for everyone!

Edit: Maine also has some of the absolute best thrift store shopping and photograph taking spots I have ever been to, so that will likely be a part of the one to two day trip as well!

300

2008-06-21T00:39:00.000-07:00

You know it's funny, but this same thing happened at 100 and 200 posts, I would stop at 99 and 199 and think of ways to commemorate the amount of posts I was on, and then I would never do it, until I did something like this where I just had to come on and say it was the 300th post so that I could get back on with my life and post about less dramatic things. So here it is. Post number 300. Awesome.

One of those nights you never forget.

2008-06-14T23:36:00.000-07:00

I had thought of how I was going to celebrate my 300th post on my blog. This is actually 299 and I wanted to do some sort of, "IN preparation for..." However, this past night was so interesting and weird that I really need to write it down while it's still fresh in my mind. Let's start with the whole day, so my day started a whole 22 and a half hours ago. I woke up at 4 in the morning and had no idea how I was going to be able to get back onto a night schedule by sunday night. Now, not so much of a worry. Things I did know when i woke up.

1. My roommate had his birthday the day before and so he was having a social gathering at our place at 5 pm.

2. A girl I had met through improv invited me to go to a concert in Cambridge at 10 pm that night.

So I started off the day with no caffeine and I talked with people online and got some work done. I cleaned a little bit of my room. By about noon I had thought if I could get a nap from noon until 4, then I should be set. I tried to sleep, and got half an hour of sleep but then woke up and was super hungry as it was now 1 pm and I had forgotten to eat since waking up at 4 am. So I ate and tried to sleep again but to no avail. 5:30 rolled around and people started showing up for the party.

Only 5 people RSVPed and about 15-20 people showed up including two just out of high school girls who got the email and thought there would be younger people at the party. There were not to their dismay and so they looked like deer in headlights for the party until they could make a viable excuse to leave. The party overall was a success, I got to know many people and it was really nice. Most people left at 8:30 and so I got ready to go to the concert.

I left for the concert at about 9:30, but the red line was down between two stations so it ended up taking me longer then expected and I arrived around 11. The girl whom had invited me was no where to be seen and I wished I had somehow gotten her number to see if she was really coming. The venue was a really small tavern and the place was filled enough to fill every seat but not overly full. The band was probably the best rockabilly band I've ever heard, here is their myspace page --

http://www.myspace.com/rockyvelvet

It was a really good show, but about halfway in I noticed this couple. They were doing some interesting things. They both looked to be about 25. The girl was drunk and trying to get away from her boyfriend and have a good time and cut loose. Her boyfriend though was really creeping me out as he only had a stern look on his face and he stared at her the entire time. Every about three minutes he would walk towards her grab her by the shoulder and tell her something, she would then push him away and go dance in another part of the bar, and he would stare for about three minutes and so on repeating over and over and over again. I was really getting bothered by it. I was near the bathroom when she hid in the bathroom hallway, he went in there and started to hold her back not letting her leave. I started fuming, so I got up from my chair and she went across the bar. Well when she finally did come back across the bar past me, when he went to follow I blocked his path. I told him to calm down but he pushed past me. She ran to the other side and again I blocked his way and told him to cool his jets and give her some space. He pushed past me again but after I had done that his advances on her became much less frequent with more time intervals between. I had lost sight of them for a while and realized they had left the building so I continued to rock out knowing there was nothing more I could do. When the concert was over I left the bar at about 1 am. I knew there was a bus coming by there at about 1:30 so I could wait there for that one. When I went outside there they were yelling at each other, "I don't love you." was said by both of them quite a bit. Finally she came over to the small group and said help me out here please. We all got in there and he said he was done with the relationship but still wanted to make sure she got home alright. We said we'd call a cab, we did, she was put in the car and he left. Crisis averted at least for a night. The bus came along and I got on the bus to go home.

The story does not end there. Not by a long shot. Be careful though cause coming up is one of those Holy &%^$ &^%$ type moments. If you don't want to go any further, just know I am okay, I am not hurt, just a little shaken up. And will not walk alone in this neighborhood that late again.

----------------------------CAUTION-------- Really messed up tale ahead ------------------

I arrived a 10 minute walk from my apartment when the bus came to it's last stop, there was no other way to get home then to walk as none of the busses going past my house came that late. I had done the walk before, it's well lit and I had done it about that late a couple of times before with no incident, still I held my camera in my hand just in case I needed a weapon. I live in a rough neighborhood so sometimes you never know. Tonight was one of those nights. As I was walking along a stretch I noticed on the side of the street I was walking on a crowd of about 10 teenagers dressed in black. A sound went off like a pop gun, not an actual gun but like a loud snapper. The kind you get on the fourth of July. The kids all ran into the alley after the noise was heard. I walked to the other side of the street just in case and was walking past a bunch of teenagers scattered through out the other side of the road. I heard some boys laughing but then one girl about 16 years old started crying really loudly. "I don't want this anymore." A guy's voice, "Dude, your sister is bleeding!" I kept walking, and didn't hear from that group again then I saw another group, run past me three guys and a girl. Then four more three guys and a girl underneath a tree. I had caught up to another guy and girl, two mexicans, who were also walking on my side of the road, they too were not involved. The girl saw us walked across the street and leaned against a big truck hiding herself from all of them except us three. When we got to her she was crying and pleading with us, "Please help me." I could see she was bleeding from several cuts on her leg. I wanted to help, I really did, but I knew if I were to help I might somehow get mixed up in this insane thing that was going on and I couldn't risk it. I had to get a safe distance away. It felt awful as I left her laying against the truck without trying to help her but it almost felt like she had known the type of shit she had gotten into and only now that she was hurt was she trying to get out. I'll never really know, but I felt like I had to keep walking and not associate myself at all. I've never had to do that before and now I have. I got about 4 minutes away when four police cars past me all going faster then I've seen any car go past me before. I knew where every one of them were going. I don't know what was going on, all I know is I was a bystander, a civilian, in something sick and sadistic. I was never really scared, I was scared the whole time and dumbfounded by the insanity, but I had my wits about me.

Seriously, I don't think I've ever experienced something so weird and bizarre. Now, I am exhausted. It's 3:15 am, I have been awake for 23.25 hours. I hope to sleep about 12, and then I can be ready for work tomorrow. I hope I didn't scare those that actually read it, but if you did read it, I'm curious if any of you have felt anything similar and have any idea how to cope. I don't think I'm scarred or anything, but it's still something I need to think about. It was weird cause I was able to help one girl from the abusive boyfriend, but not another from the local gang fight. I think I'm just glad I had the courage to stand up the first time, to counter balance the knowledge that I couldn't act the second time. The next post will be very light hearted, I promise.

The Beach

2008-05-31T13:23:00.001-07:00

I still do poetry every now and again, usually I don't share it, but I pounded this one out today and I like it. It's called "The Beach"

I look out into the ocean, at about noon or so.
I'm not sure if it's raining or it's just the wind blowing the water on my face.
I am alone on the beach.
I'm standing and yet I wish I were swimming,
it's not that I can't swim, it's that I don't know how.
People have told me how to swim, and oh boy have I tried, but when it comes down to it, the water keeps pushing me out. Walking, Running, Sprinting, even crawling

Always I end up back on the beach

So I turn around, and I try to leave the beach, I reach the sidewalk
my foot is inches away

*poof*

Facing the ocean, water in my face.
I decided to make a home on the beach.
I built the biggest sandcastle that there could be.
Since I can't go ahead and I can't fall behind I must stay inside.
But I didn't account for the tide, and my house is left in shambles.
Sand becomes one again with the beach.
And so I start to swim. I feel the water on all sides.
And I love it.

I love the water.

I want to stay with it, but the waves keep pushing me back to the beach.

Men walk past me, they tell me of times they knew to swim when the sea was calm but passed it up. I look to the ocean and find it calm, so I run as fast as I can and when I hit the water.

Wavvvvvvves.

A bottle washes ashore. Message inside, "On awesome island, wish you were here." Handwriting familiar yet distant.

So I try and I try and I try like waves crashing on the beach. Always ahead into them. Hoping one day I will make it past and towards the island.

*Poof*

Curious about where I live?

2008-05-28T17:48:00.001-07:00

Well it turns out the house I live in has a wikipedia article. It looks a lot better then the picture though. But yes, I live in the basement in a residence apartment.

Shirley Eustis House

Whoa Nelly, Public Transportation!

2008-05-22T08:06:00.001-07:00

Each day that I go into work I take about four buses to make it into work. I take four because even though it's four different buses it's faster then some of the ways which only take two. I have about a one hour commute in the night and morning taking four buses. When you take the bus you tend to see all kinds of different people, but for some reason when I'm on the 28 bus from Dudley Station to Mattapan Station, there are a more interesting cast of characters then any other bus. Let me explain with two instances in the past week.

The first comes from sunday night, I was on the phone with my good friend Freda, and I walked onto the bus, I was sitting down as a mexican man roughly 25 years of age bumped into me and started rambling in spanish very loudly. I sat down and put my feet up on the next chair so that he couldn't sit next to me but he sat in the chair across the walkway. As the bus was going he was staring at me the entire time and was non stop talking in Spanish. I mean this guy didn't take time to breathe. After a while I knew I had to do something because he was staring right at me the entire time. Finally I told Freda to hold on, I put my phone down and I looked at the man and said, "No Habla Espanol." His eyes widened, and he looked as if I had taken his entire family heritage and had desecrated it for all to see. His speech became about three times louder, he started pointing his finger at me and his face looked like he was ready to pull out a knife. I slowly got to my feet and got to the other side of the bus but the guy would not stop talking and he kept looking back at me and pointing. Finally at some stop he got off the bus, still talking and yelling, he never stopped talking except for the split second after I told him I didn't speak Spanish.

Today while waiting for the bus this guy passed me as I was sitting down, he was listening to his cd player and dancing all over the street. We got on the bus and I sat near the back when this guy came over and started singing along to his cd player, almost yelling it he said, "Pimps and Hoes, Back up yo!" Well while this is happening this lady is sitting across from me, she laughs at him doing this and then looks at me seriously, I've got my headphones on and I wasn't really paying any attention. Well she suddenly opens up her wallet and pulls out a dollar bill and extends it to me, I shake my head no but she looks insistent that I take it, so I do, then she goes back into her wallet, pulls out four pennies and gives those to me too. Then that was her stop and she got off the bus, I still have no idea why she gave me the money. So back to the man with the cd player, he takes her spot on the bus and looks at me and says, "Hey you look like Larry Bird." Thanks I say, then he goes back to his song, and sings along again, the best part was when he pulled out his beer in a bag, drank it, put it back then sang, "I'm fryin' my dough and puttin' it on the grill." Then he made motions of himself taking meat and putting it on the grill and he made sizzling sounds. He kept singing to his songs which had some very interesting lyrics from what i could tell of what he was singing.

Both of those occurred on the same bus, however I do have one more story which did not happen on that bus but which does have to do with crazy people I encounter. I was near Harvard looking for this bus that apparently goes from Harvard to Dudley Station which is near my apartment, people had told me it only takes 20 minutes (which it does, it's super fast). But I first needed to find the stop, the madam in the station told me it had to be moved to the corner of brattle and evans. So I went up top and found the end of brattle but I couldn't find this evans. So i decided I needed to ask some people, the first guy who passed looked almost bug eyed but I asked him anyways I said, "Excuse me, do you know the area?" He didn't reply, "Look if you know where Evans street is just point the way. He looked up and stared at me as he passed. He was a puny little guy so I didn't feel like complaining would do me any harm so I said, "Hey thanks, the whole not talking really helped." So I turned back to see if anyone else was passing by when the same guy circled around me staring at me without saying anything, I gave him a weird look and then he circled me again, and I said, "You need anything?" and then he stopped circling me and walked off. Really, there have been some interesting people I've met out here, and all while riding the ol' public transportation.

Oh Yeah, that's why I work there.

2008-05-21T17:01:00.000-07:00

I was having a particularly tough day at work the other day, the kids were tough, my coworkers were especially nosy that day and I was given all the paperwork to do by myself. I had been doing a project which was taking 2 hours to finish and with just ten minutes to go the link broke and I had to start over again. I was feeling close to throwing up and I was not in a good mood. So imagine how miffed I was when I got the call when the kids woke up that they were moving me to another division, one in which I had never worked in before. I am sent there and when I arrive the other two quickly give me my group and without telling me their names or anything I need to know about them they tell me to get to work. So I try to figure out their names and get them going but clearly two of them aren't moving and I still have to handle the other two at the same time. Somehow I'm able to survive until I am told that two of the kids need constant physical attention and to somehow keep an eye on the other two. Once Breakfast rolls around none of the chores are done and I was just able to get them clothed enough to go to Breakfast. We get there, and I am contemplating calling in sick the next day and on the verge of tears. I've been given one of the hardest groups in the school without even knowing their names and left alone to do it all. I finish my breakfast and they seem to be pretty capable of eating themselves so I put my hands in my face and breathe a big sigh trying not to break out in tears. When suddenly I get tapped on my hand by another hand, I look to see it's one of the kids, he's tapped my hand and is giving me this big smile and looking at me as if he wants me to smile. I do and he smiles even bigger and claps and then goes back to eating. Now I'm trying not to cry out of joy for this kid who could see I was troubled and wanted me to be happy. Suddenly the rest of the morning with those kids was fine, we took it slow and steady and I kept a smile on my face and the kids all responded well.

I've worked with autistic kids for so long I had forgotten how sweet they can be when you least expect it.

Oh Landlord

2008-05-13T17:43:00.000-07:00

My landlord lately has been doing some funny things. For those that don't know, we turned my room from a living room into an actual room, all that was required was putting in a fourth wall. My landlord who is not versed in the ways of home building has been trying to be the authoritarian on the subject. I too don't know many things on making a home, but I do know some simple rules, rules in which my landlord seems to want to break. The guy came in today to put in the door to my room, he came in with a perplexed look and said, the landlord wanted the door to swing into the room towards the bulk of the room and not towards the wall. Have you ever seen a door not swing towards the wall but swing into the middle of the room? I told the guy that didn't make any sense and he agreed with me, but said the Landlord was the boss. After talking with him for another 5 minutes on why it would be the worst idea to follow the landlord, he decided to instead do it the way I wanted and swing it outwards in the hall and to the wall. Hopefully my landlord doesn't create a huge fit. But now I finally got something in ways of the wall the way I wanted. Hooray!

Maine: This past weekend

2008-05-01T08:56:00.000-07:00

As I was driving along the Maine turnpike I looked to the side of the road and saw a car stopped with it's emergency lights on. The passenger side door was open and just a little ways down the road was a man with a paper bag puppet on his hand, speaking to the puppet.

I was able to go back to Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont for the first time in 4-5 years this past weekend. I spent three days up there. I first headed to my Derry New Hampshire where I filled the car up with gas. Then I continued on to Vermont. I stayed there a couple of hours then drove to Ellsworth Maine where I stayed with my friend Terry for two days, and then on the last day I visited a couple of people in Machias and surrounding cities and then drove home. Overall it was a fun trip, it was interesting as I would see things which would bring back memories I had forgotten. For instance...

I took exit eight in Vermont and suddenly remembered the last time I had taken exit 8. There were six missionaries in the car at the time, I was in the back seat. We had just attended a zone conference and as we were getting off exit 8 we noticed a man with a full beard and his pants down peeing on the side of the road. We all had a hearty chuckle when one of the guys called out, "Find a bathroom" at which point the old codger flipped us off.

Good weird memories came flooding back. Ones which you wouldn't remember unless a specific part of the road made you remember or perhaps a gas station in Derry New Hampshire in which you remember the clerk looking at you and clearly saying.

"Jesus is my Dog Yo!"

Overall it was a good trip and there were some beautiful sites to see. In fact here are some pictures.

11:30 on a Tuesday Night

2008-04-23T00:57:00.000-07:00

I was heading home from a good ol' time at a friend's place in Cambridge Mass this evening past when as I was leaving I came to realize I had not been to the facilities in a good long while. Being as how I was already a bit down the road from said friend's house I didn't really want to head back, however I have found it notorious in Boston so far to have no pubic bathrooms anywhere. There are none in any bus station, all stores do not have them even if you offer them money to use it. No can do, store policy. Well tonight I was at Harvard square thinking about just getting on the train to head home when I thought about going around the block and seeing if I couldn't find a bathroom somewhere. I found myself in an alley way that was under construction, I didn't see any stores around so I was about to go back to the street when I heard the most serene sound of a lone harmonica resonated through amazing acoustics of the alleyway. I decided to investigate and I found a homeless man with a push cart, he was blowing an amazing tune into his harmonica as a college student hippy kid strummed along with his guitar. I decided to sit around and have a listen. I sat in the road and listened as these two musicians played the blues together. The Harmonica man would play and then drop his harmonica and sing the blues. I put my bag behind my head and I lay down in the street looking up at the starry sky, just thinking about life as two random musicians played the blues together in the middle of a really well acousticed alley way. After they played for a bit they stopped and we talked about this and that, the man with the harmonica has encountered the boy strumming his guitar and asked if he could play with him. Neither had seen each other before. For but a moment, or maybe around 5-10 minutes, I was able to find a truly serene moment in an otherwise busy city. I hope next time I too will have an instrument to play.

Thought of the day

2008-04-13T11:56:00.000-07:00

"Don't give up just because now it doesn't look right."

Sigh

2008-04-12T20:24:00.000-07:00

Today I had my first really big case of homesickness. I mean it's better that I'm out here. I'm eating better, I'm exercising more, I'm losing weight, I'm independent, have a god job and overall I'm happier then usual. But man I miss my friends right now.

This past week

2008-03-31T15:15:00.001-07:00

I started last week with a sore throat monday morning and a throbbing head ache. I knew it was just the first sign that I was going to have a tough week ahead. I had been given my schedule for training, a whoping 54 hours of work. All interspersed throughout the days. For instance I would work a ten hour shift, be given 8 hours of time to go home and sleep and then start again with a 3 hour shift, 5 hour break during the day and then another 9 hour shift to finish out the evening. The schedule they gave me turned out to be literally impossible for me to be on time to all my shifts and be able to live where I'm currently living. After talking it over with my dad we decided the best possible action, though expensive would be to get a room at the inn in town. The week was about as hard as I had imagined but not so much because of the hours but because the sore throat I mentioned earlier never went away. I'd wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to sleep until I had relieved the throat somehow. But I did it, somehow I was able to survive the week and finally it was Saturday. My week had finished and I had survived, I had cursed the heavens but I still had survived. Saturday was an excellent day, full of fun and falling down, but the sore throat stayed. Finally on sunday I woke up to having no voice what so ever. I stayed home all day, lying down through most of it and trying to get as much sleep as possible and now here it is on monday and the sore throat has finally passed. I am so relieved. I start my first actual non-training shift tonight and I am actually quite excited. The job looks to be super fun when it's not my whole life, which it had to be last week. The eleven kids in my division are really fun. All autistic and all around 17-19 years old. One of the kids who apparently has this special way of showing you he approves of you, I'm only the second person ever of staff working there that he's done it to, and the first person was there for 6 months before he did it to him. So that makes me feel all kinds of happy. Also it's really cool being a minority when it comes to my co-workers. Only about 8 white people work there, and none in my division. Mostly African-Americans and Japanese.

The other good news is I know I've lost some weight, I haven't been able to weigh myself but some pants which fit me in Utah are already starting to get loose enough that I need a belt. My goal is to be able to get onto a frisbee league in the summer and be able to keep up with everyone else.

The difference in life more me has been like night and day from Utah to here. It's really nice to experience new things. Still I hope everyone is doing well and I'll let you know when I will come out and visit.

R.I.P. Dave Da Bull

2008-03-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

Update on Jon in Boston.

Many are probably wondering how I am doing now that I am in Boston. Well let's get the formalities out of the way. I got the job so I am here for good. I had an interesting day last Saturday. I flew the whole time with a four hour layover in Denver which is now my favorite airport. Then I spent the rest of the weekend with a rental car and staying at my uncle's place and going to the interview. Now however I am living in my apartment without a fourth wall. I have to wait a week before I can have a fourth wall. Everyone is allowed to look into my life. I know people are going to say, "What on earth is he talking about?" Well my room is technically a living room, and it has two doors, one to the kitchen bathroom area and one to the mini study which goes to the bedroom. Both doors are next to each other at one side of the room. So by putting up a fourth wall it would make that part into a hallway. This was supposed to be done last sunday but the dude who was going to do it got the flu, so I have to wait a week and live without a fourth wall.

On Sunday I was walking along after church on my way to visit Eleka and this old man walking his dog struck up a conversation with me. I obliged and we started talking, it wasn't long until a second man walking his dog joined us and we were just talking about this and that when the old men started talking about work and how they were both Harvard Law Professors. Then the conversation turned to the economy and politics. It was really quite interesting. They both assumed I was a Harvard student as one of them even told me to go talk to a specific professor.

Today I went exploring and I did a figure eight with public transportation. More like a figure eight lollypop on a giant stick. I found out how to get to my work, which requires a bus ride, then a train ride and finally another bus ride. It's a good trip as long as my ipod is charged.

Ikea is officially one of my least favorite stores on the planet. It was designed by a marketer who knew what he was doing and how to properly get the most money. See unless you know the layout of the store, then you get stuck going in this maze which takes you over every possible nook and cranny of the store before getting to the end. I had gotten what I wanted in the first 5 minutes and was ready to go and found out I had to go to the Marketplace, so I follow the arrows it says to go to the Marketplace. I ended up walking for 30 minutes cause I was with my great uncle who is slow because of his age. If I had known the layout of the store and had been able to knock out one placed wall it would have taken 3 minutes. But alas they want us to look at EVERYTHING before you leave. It's great for those with money and can spend all day there, but man it was so bloody annoying. Next time I have to go there, I go alone and I bring rollerblades.

So there you are, the highlights of the trip so far... Oh and one more thing. My subject line. Yeah, that's currently spray painted on the sidewalk outside of my apartment! Boo Yah.

In Case You Haven't Heard Yet...

2008-03-12T09:26:00.000-07:00

I'm moving to Boston on Saturday. The Saturday that is three days away. Bye Utah!

waiting

2008-03-03T08:11:00.000-08:00

no wonder I haven't received a call, the lady in charge went on a two week vacation after getting my application. So now I have to wait until the 6th of March. This really is the most I've had to wait in a long while and I'm not enjoying it too much. Yarrgh, Jon Smash!

Fortunes

2008-03-01T07:35:00.000-08:00

I love fortune cookies, mainly due to the fact that the fortunes seem to work out for me. For instance my brother came home with one about a month ago, I forgot about it and found it two weeks later still in the packaging. I opened it, did the ritual of eating the whole cookie before reading the fortune and the fortune said, "You will receive something important in the mail." I had not ordered anything, but I thought nothing of it until 15 MINUTES later when my mom opened the door from up stairs and said she had just gotten the mail and I had gotten a package. It was from my aunt with some useful technology stuffs that she didn't need. Keen!

So the other day I got another one, and it actually gave me a good answer to something in which I wasn't sure how to go about doing. I should have followed the fortunes advice cause I think I didn't, and I think I may have screwed it up. Crap. (Note: This doesn't have anything to do with Boston Job Hunting, so it's okay, not a big deal in that sense.)

Moral, always do what the cookie tells you, cause it's so tasty.

Day 2 Part 2

2008-02-25T17:10:00.001-08:00

On my trip to Boston, I had a friday in which from noon until 6:30 pm I had nothing to do. So I decided to go out and wander. I left my hotel in the middle of downtown and was curious to figure out the transportation system. I was told the entrance to "The T" was next to a cheesecake factory and so in walking around I did find the cheesecake factory and then found the T. The T is this magnificent train/subway system for Boston and the suburbs all around. I found my way around pretty quickly and found myself leaving town on the red line. I was going to a friend's place at 6:30 who was at the end of the red line, so when I got to Harvard Square I decided to get off and explore Harvard and the surroundings. I walked around Harvard campus for about half an hour checking out the buildings and having a surprise nodding with none other then Christopher Walken. I found the film library which was one of the places I really wanted to find, found when and where they show student films and independent films as well. I found myself wandering around town until I got to a theater. A theater in which plays are performed and I decided to survey the local free magazines. It's been a while since I've been able to get free interesting magazines. Not since Nick Bryner lived in Colorado and would bring out to me a year's supply worth of Onion News Papers which he would get two of each issue that came out.

I then walked along and ran into a homeless man named Gary, he gave me this crooked half smile and then said, "Hello there, you look like an interesting fellow." As do you I replied back and we ended up having a wonderful conversation, I said I was an out of towner hoping to move here and I was just wandering around for the day. He very closely guessed I was from Colorado, and then I told him he was one state off in Utah. He told me all the cool things to do around Harvard campus, some places I should check out while wandering. It was a nice conversation, but at some point we were done, we nodded and I headed on my way.

I went to a medium class restaurant called "Au Bon Pain". It was a weird name for me as it seemed French but yet, since I didn't know French, all I thought was it had the word Pain in it. That intrigued me a little, but also the entire place was packed to the brim. So I decided to give it a chance. As is usually customary for me when it comes to new eateries I tend to get the Chicken Noodle Soup, also I was feeling like having my stomach being settled and there's nothing like Chicken Noodle Soup to calm my achy tummy. I asked for a bread stick as well and then was asked an impossible question. What kind of bread? I froze. Now dear readers, do not misinterpret here, most would think from this question that I have a hard time making choices, I do not. However I am quite ignorant when it comes to types of breads. I had no idea, I knew I didn't want pure wheat, but I didn't know what the other choices were. So I fought back. What are the choices? She froze. Obviously a question she doesn't get that often. She looked at the breads and said, "Uh... Well you know..." She clearly didn't know what to do, so I said, "Just grab one, doesn't matter which one." They grabbed one, and it was good.

When trying to find a seat, I had to do two run throughs before I finally found an empty seat. It was by the window. I sat facing the window and began my soup. I eavesdropped a little cause I'm always interested in hearing proximity conversations. Two girls in their early 20s were telling each other about their lesbian girl friends and how neither of them had seemingly found the right ones. Both were figuring out how to break it off, I couldn't tell whether they would be getting together because they never mentioned anything of the sort, already implied? A man and a woman got into an argument first about whether the song playing in the background was a Bob Dylan song, and then whether or not Bob Dylan was any good. Then a man passed who looked like a in his 40s Bob Dylan. They chuckled as did I. When the conversations died I went to my book and started reading, but shortly after I started reading a dear old lady named Rose came over and asked me if this seat was taken. I said it was not and I'd be delighted if she sat there. We had a very nice conversation, she asked me if I was going to Harvard, I told her I was from out of town hoping to move in, this was my first time at the Au Bon Pain and she then told me how she comes here about 3 times a week for the past 20 or so years, however long it's been open. I told her I was from Utah and she told me she'd never been past New York. She gave me a bite of her sugary treat, I'm still not sure what it was, but it was delicious. We talked for about an hour and then I thought it best for me to be on my way.

When I left the establishment I went in a different direction then I had previously, I found a free books table. I didn't find any I wanted at that moment and continued on. After about 5 blocks who did I run into but Gary! The homeless man from earlier. He gave a hearty belly laugh and said, "You weren't lying when you said you were wandering." He told me about the improv scene in Boston, I told him I was planning on checking it out and finding a group I liked and figuring ways to join them, and he told me he could tell I was one of those types, and if I ever did do a show that I should wander around again and give him an invite and he would come just like that. We talked also on alcohol, he told me about a good bar and I told him I've never drank. He was stunned and then smiled, "Let me guess, you never have the money for it." He laughed. I did too. "It's true" I said, "I never have enough money, and I've always figured alcohol to be an investment. I need a job before that can happen." I could tell he was delighted that I had no steady source of income but yet I was still so high on spirits. He told me I needed to come by and wander around again the next time I came out if I got the job to let him know how I was doing. I promised I would and then we went our separate ways. Shortly after that Darcy said she was on her way, I waited a little while, she arrived and we headed to Katie's place for the start of the third part of a wonderful day.

The True Meaning of Valentine's Day

2008-02-15T10:12:00.000-08:00

One of my best friends wrote this last year and I thought I'd let everyone know the true meaning of Valentine's Day.

This year lets talk origins.

Todays modern holidays closest antecedent was the ever delightful Lupercalia
festival. Actually predating Rome, its original god(dess) of worship is
unsure; however most agree that it represents a time of purification and joy
in the coming year. So what did they do? Same things we do today ; a little
cleaning, a few parties, and blood sacrifice.

Now, back in the day, there is little doubt that this was a human sacrifice,
but by the time Remus and Romulus are suckling ol' Mama Lupas teat (I'm not
being gross or metaphorical here people; its history, learn it) the yearly
sacrifice is a goat and one or two dogs. One of the Luperci, a powerful
order of Roman priests, was lead naked to a cave in Palantine Hill (said to
be the same site of afore mentioned suckled Lupa teat ) where the sacrifices
were made. The blood of the sacrifice was wiped on the forehead of the
priest with the sacrificial knife, while the priest laughed. This was
actually part of the ritual. To be jovial was a sign that the gods were
pleased and therefore approved. Vestial virgins then wiped the blood off of
the priests forehead with cotton dipped in milk, after which the priests
loins were covered with part of the goats skin and the rest was made into a
many thonged whip.

Now here's where it gets interesting.

The whip is dipped in blood and the priest runs a specific path thru the
city, whipping and getting good old fashioned sacrificial blood on everyone
he passes, but most especially the women as its supposed to make them pure
and fertial. Naturally, women line the path of the loin-cloth whipper priest
for the blessing of a good bloody fertial whipping. It was considered the
highlight of the festival. After that a large container, holding the names
of all the single women in the area was brought out. All the single men drew
a name and that girl became the young mans lover, for the day, for the year
and sometimes for life. (this is probably the origin of the Valentines day
card). The date this occurred? February 15th.

Why the change? The Christians found the holiday distasteful and tried to
christianise it. They found a saint (three actually) and changed the date to
the 14th, most likely do to Chaucers love birds. And what of all this? Well
geeze people, either look it up yourselves or wait til next year.

The point here is to you ladies. If your particular valentine seemingly
"forgot" a gift or date on the 14th and then "remembered" on the 15th, why
he just an old fashioned love sick nostalgic.

Probably the same if he brought a whip.

Gone for one week

2008-02-12T04:45:00.000-08:00

So I've kept this sorta quiet from everyone, and it's one reason why I haven't posted on my blog cause my past two months has been sorta dedicated to this. So in the past two months I've been applying for jobs in Human Services in the Boston Massachusetts area. I'm actually headed out there tomorrow Feb. 13th and staying until the following Tuesday as I have a job interview out there and I'll be visiting friends and checking out apartments and the like. If I get the job then the plan is to fly back to Utah, pack up things and finish up stuff for about a week and a half and then move out there for good. If I don't get the job well then I'll just keep trying to get going out there with the other apps and I do have some possible things going on in Utah that I can have fun with. So that's the plan, I'm headed to Boston for a week and it's going to be awesome as I love new things, the one disappointing thing however is I have to cut my hair. I'm not buzzing it this time but I am taking a couple inches off. So wish me luck as this could be the start of the new chapter in my life.

An Interesting Night

2008-01-28T00:44:00.000-08:00

I've had an interesting night. I know I haven't been writing on here much, but I won't apologize, so there. So right about the first of the month I suddenly got super sick, it was right around the time I decided to eat healthier and exercise more. I was sick for about eight days straight which is not something that happens to me often, usually if I'm sick, I'm sick for a day maybe a day and a half. This sickness can be described as a feeling of exploding. I finally got better on the day I went to the doctor. I went a couple of days then saturday I got a letter from the doctor saying after all the tests they couldn't find anything wrong with me. Then today I wake up with a relapse of the sickness again. So I was stuck inside all day.

But here's where it gets interesting. I'm rewatching the last episode of the Third Season of Lost when with just a minute left I get an email from facebook of someone inviting me to a group dedicated To the Passing of Gordon B. Hinckley. Literally a couple seconds later another email comes in from an old friend, one in which I've been friends with and still considered myself to be friends with since the age of about 12. It's a letter which I shant go into just that it's saying of said friends need to be away from his friends for a while as he's going through many tough times. I didn't even really have time to register Hinckley's death before this dire letter came in. Suddenly I'm a mix of emotions. Not sure where I'm to take it. I quickly wrote a reply to the friend and then turned on my DVR to a talk by President Hinckley from the past General Conference.

It was a good night though because I was able to talk and hash out some things with at least three other friends, about what had just transpired. It was nice to get my thoughts in order and I'm glad I could talk with them about it.

It's funny cause the past month due to being sick a lot, I've been holed up in my house for a majority of the month, and I've been going slightly stir crazy because of it. I had almost forgot that life still goes on without me, and then to have it all roll in, in one fell swoop was a nice wake up call and a good amount of time to reflect.

You were good to me President Hinckley, you'll be missed. Yet thinking about it, if I were to lose those good friends, the best, I'd be even sadder then I am today. I know from today, that my friends do influence me more then any other source. They're important, and I want them to know that. Thanks friends.

Best of 2007 in Music

2007-12-27T22:19:00.000-08:00

Now I must preface this by saying that I did not listen to the Radiohead albums this year. I had planned on it, but by the time I went to get it off the website, it had been taken down. I didn't feel good about paying nothing for it, but I never had enough money on my card to buy it until after they took it down. So I never listened to it. I hear it was really good. So here's my list minus not listening to that album. Also as a side note, there weren't many awesome albums that came out this year that I would like. Note I'm not really into the indie scene.

Only a top 4 this year. Honorable mentions go to Bloc Party, Modest Mouse and Busdriver.

4. Ozomatli -- Don't Mess With The Dragon -- Ozomatli has been one of my favorite bands throughout the years and this cd is a very hip and up tempo album. I even heard some radio play which is good for these guys, they deserve it. Not the best album to start with, but it's a good rockin' album.

3. Queens of The Stoneage -- Eva Vulgaris -- QOTSA really has grown up in their past couple of albums and this one they try new things and really score on a lot of it. They have the hard, the soft, the crazy and the mellow.

2. Ween -- La Cucaracha -- Ween is my second favorite band of all time, and this album just makes them another notch up there. They go for such different things which they hadn't done before, such as a Steppenwolf like Jam and an old timey 40s rockabilly tune. This album is among the greats like White Pepper, Quebec and The Mollusk. Lots of different things and all working well together.

1. Nine Inch Nails -- Year Zero -- This album blew my socks off when I first heard it and even now I can't find a bad song on the cd. It's industrial rock at it's best. Reznor does some amazing things with computers to pull of this amazingly rockin' album. Even the cd itself is really cool as it changes when it's heated up. This is the best piece of music when it comes to industrial that I can think of.

I Am Legend

2007-12-15T00:35:00.000-08:00

I went and saw "I Am Legend" today, mostly because I was there during the music composition part of most of the film. Internet reports had it that the Producers changed a lot of the movie, wrestling control from the Director, and sure enough, I saw about nine full scenes being done, and only two of them were left in the final product. The ending and a major plot point were also thrown out. Why does the Alpha Male seemingly stalk Smith? Oh because, oh wait, they took out the reason... Looks like the world will never know. Unless of course there is a directors cut, and then the movie will be insanely different, which I bet there will be. I'll buy that one if it comes out.

Also, they didn't just cut the scenes, even most of the scenes I saw that were in the movie, the music was gutted. Only two or so scenes had the same music I saw, and the end credits is where they put the rest of them. So if you do see the movie, only the orchestral stuff which is few and far between and the stuff after the Marley song in the end credits is what I was there for.

Christmas Cheer

2007-12-14T11:18:00.000-08:00

The following was written by one of my best friends, one J. Huntsman. I find it to be quite enjoyable and so shall you if you read it me thinks.

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So, in a recent church related meeting, it was lamented that we'd stepped away from the 'old ways' of celebrating the holidays. I was told to take time and remember the true meaning of Christmas. And as I continue each time it is brought up I tried to set up an old fashioned festival of fools, the marti gra type party that was traditionally used to celebrate this time of year filled with low humor, wine, women, and song.

You know, for the kids.

Silence. Then the inevitable: "I mean we should take time to remember the birth of Christ, not follow in the ways of the world."

Now don't get me wrong; I am all for using this time to remember Christ's birth into this world but come on, the whole idea was tagged on by the apostate church to convince them that turning christian wouldn't change their lives that much and would be good for their health (as not joining could result in an unusually messy death). Anyway since over 90% of what we use to celebrate Christmas is pagan in origin why not enjoy it to the fullest? I even suggested a fair compromise: replace liquor with juice and jello, keep all jokes at a max PG-13 level, free love becomes party games, and of course no men dressing up as women.

Besides, the traditional christian way to celebrate was mass at an hour that I have on good authority the Spirit is asleep at.

Despite all my reasonable fairness, the group was growing hostile. Finally, one smug individual said that he felt a duty to point out that Christmas was about taking care of those less fortunate and that was the truest tradition. He also said we needed to beware the negative effects of capitalism by forgetting the products and focusing on people.

Poor man didn't know my determination.

I pointed out that the idea of taking care of the poor at Christmas was not generally held by people till the 1800's when a Charles Dickens, arguably the most famous man on earth at the time and an outspoken activist for the lower classes, wrote the highly popular and widely read A Christmas Carol. Before that, only churches really helped the poor at Christmas, though in fairness usually no more than they normally did. Even the patron saint of Christmas, Nicholas, didn't do his charitable "Christmas" deed at that time of year, which I might add didn't involve good kids getting gifts but rather helping a family of girls avoid prostitution by giving them money for a dowry. Santa Claus as we now know him has roots in European pagan tradition, but was formed mostly from the poem 'Twas The Night Before Christmas commissioned by none other than Coke-a-Cola. Therefore, I argued, what could be more traditional than the capitalism that made giving to others ourselves and as the eccentric and elusive Santa so popular? Besides, I jested, the helping of young girls to wed? (it was the only thing I said that was seriously considered. sigh.)

Needless to say, I was shot down. Almost literally. Also shot down was my suggestion to give out marti gra bead necklaces at church, just to liven things up. Oh well.