Go on and Save Yourself, and Take it Out On Me...
*I've been getting extremely bored during the days that I don't have class. But I've found a new way to pass the time. Amazon lets buyers write reviews of cds, so I've taken into reading other's reviews and even writing some of my own. After reading a couple, I've figured out that there's a formula behind it. I looked up Queens of the Stone Age's Rated R, 311's Music, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's Take Them On, On Your Own and found that in all cases, it was true. For the 3 of those albums, there were throngs of people who found it awesome, wrote articulate helpful reviews... and then you would always have, out of the 50-or-so reviews, one or two dumbasses who write a review like ...
"OMG, tihs is ghey muzik!!! Y do all u ppl thnk tihs is g0oD??!! I b3t u'r ghey 2!!!! U shood lissn 2 aktual muzik like Linkn Prk!!!!! Chestr iz a much bttr song wrtier tahn tehse p0serrs!!! H3 writes from teh heart!!!!!!" ... (I found a review, maybe not so much on the 1337 side, but very similar in context to this under the reviews for Velvet Revolver's Contraband. He had the audacity to recommend Linkin Park over Velvet Revolver. He even included "Chester writes better music because he writes from the heart". Insert my abhorent laughter here. I love it though, they let other buyers have the option of saying if that review was helpful... and above that particular review, it had "0 of 74 people found this review helpful".)
There are a string of reviews that I don't agree with. Like the consensus on the Axis of Justice Concert Series CD was that it sucked. Most people were expecting a concert about demanding justice to be angry, gritty, and similar style to Rage Against the Machine and System of a Down, when it isn't. It's Serj on piano, Tom Morello in his "Nightwatchman" alter ego, Pete Yorn, and others. The only actual power rock song on the cd is a cover of George Clinton's "Alice in My Fantasies", which I can see why some people would be upset about. But those people just don't get it. A) Zack ain't changing his mind about Rage any time soon, as painful as that is to report. B) It was a tactiful concert done excellently. I love the cd and the music is really nothing short of spectacular (though I'm not a huge fan of the cover of Bob Dylan's "Chimes of Freedom", but that's beside the point). Some assclown had the nerve to write a review in which he included the statement "Tom Morello shouldn't be allowed to touch an acoustic guitar". I sent him a PM on Amazon saying "He shouldn't be allowed to touch a computer". I haven't checked if I got a response yet.
*'Bout halfway through the LHS basketball season, I told Cassie that if they made it to the playoffs, no matter where they went, I'd go watch them play. Well, sure enough, they made playoffs... So now it was my turn to hold up my end of the deal. ... Only I wasn't planning on going all the way to Epping. Oi. I didn't really want to drive that far, and considering that I had approximately 0 dollars to put in for gas, I just caught a ride with Cassie's parents, which was cool. We also had to bring Erin's dad with us too. It was going to be a long ride, that's for sure. I brought my cd player, but I was courteous and made small talk with the 3 of them on the way down. After a little bit of confusion on where the school was (of course), we found it and arrived at the same time as the bus.
But we got there, to the rinky-dink warehouse they called their gymnasium. I could tell it wasn't going to be a good night by a few unsightly bad omens. There was this musty smell all throughout the gym... and it was noticable. Blech... ... During the announcing of the players, the announcer got them all right... ... Then completely blows it when she's supposed to announce Cassie, who's the last player to be called. She goes "For the Littleton Crusaders... #34 ... " she stuttered because I'm sure she already knew she blew it, but that didn't stop her from reading the whole thing ... "Amber White"... Yeah, hey girl, you already called Amber White. Go back to 1st grade. So then Cassie goes to the center to shake hands with her opponent and she get's shafted... That ain't cool. And the last sign, in which I actually said "This isn't going to be a good night"... The microphone just went dead in the middle of some girl singing the national anthem. That's enough to get me shakin my head.
And truth be told, it definitely wasn't a good night. Take into consideration that the entire team was uber-sick, add the factor that Cassie also had a bum ankle ontop of a bad illness so she was really only at 75% maybe not even, and also add into consideration that they were playing a 16-2 team that was fully equipped with a 6'1" pound-it-in-the-paint scorer, a 5-foot nothing point guard who was Epping's version of Muggsy Bogues (read: excellent ball-handler), a perimeter sharpshooter who knocked down at least 5 3-pointers, and an entire bench who knew how to play the game well (as opposed to LHS who really only had about 3 or 4 good bench players). Oh, and let's not forget a very whorishly officiated game. VERY whorishly officiated. ... When you add all those factors up, you'll get a 19-point defeat. They weren't crushed, but they were beat. You could tell they were sick too, running the floor slugishly, making silly mistakes, getting beat off the dribble when normally they wouldn't be. I think that was the thing that was holding them down the most. If they were all 100%, it would've been a much closer game.
LHS will be back in the playoffs next year though, I'll even bet on it...
Amazingly, the ride home was smoother than the way down. David was awesome and bought us all dinner (at BK, but whatever...). So last night really didn't cost me anything, which was awesome and I'm truly thankful for.
*My backyard is flooded. The entire backyard has about a foot of water, maybe more. Fortunately it's winter and it's frozen over nicely now. Unfortunately, the landlord put baricades around our backyard so we can't park there anymore. And when you take into the consideration that we're already not allowed to park out front due to the parking ban all winter, where the hell am I going to park? I kept my car out front for the night and seem to have gotten away with it without getting a ticket or whatever (knock on wood). But I don't want to tempt fate by doing it again tonight. I don't dare look how bad it is in my basement. It's probably a midget hockey rink in there by now.
*A day early, but I'm feelin the effects of it already. It's already been a full year since Eric passed away. It's kinda hard to believe that it's already been a full calendar year without him here. It's still so weird... and so depressing... that he hasn't been with us. It's also humbling. You realize that none of us have a lot of time on this Earth. I know, everyone says that... and it wont' register in your brain until you actually lose someone at a young age, like 16. I also hope that none of you reading this has to feel how I felt, and how I still feel today.
Rest in peace, my friend... wherever you are right now.
Eric Ross Dickerman
11/02/87-02/19/04
When the fog comes through the golden gate
And the moon shines on the bay
And everything has changed
Now that you have gone away
Things are getting darker
And its harder for me to see
And now you're an angel
Looking over me
Your life was taken to early and
You will always be missed
All the mothers who cry and the fathers who mourn
For every lifes that taken
Theres another child born
That doesn't make it better and
It doesn't make it right
I'm just thankful everyday that
You came in my life
As time goes on
I can never forget
All the times we had
Memories I protect
Seems like yesterday
When i last saw your face
You're no longer here and
No one can replace
All the times we had
Wish they could happen again
I'll hold you in my heart
In my heart to the end
If I could make a change
It'd be me not you
So hard to sit and cope,
So sad but true
~"Sad But True" - Transplants....
... And I'm out of Mountain Dew. Time to go to Wal Mart!
"OMG, tihs is ghey muzik!!! Y do all u ppl thnk tihs is g0oD??!! I b3t u'r ghey 2!!!! U shood lissn 2 aktual muzik like Linkn Prk!!!!! Chestr iz a much bttr song wrtier tahn tehse p0serrs!!! H3 writes from teh heart!!!!!!" ... (I found a review, maybe not so much on the 1337 side, but very similar in context to this under the reviews for Velvet Revolver's Contraband. He had the audacity to recommend Linkin Park over Velvet Revolver. He even included "Chester writes better music because he writes from the heart". Insert my abhorent laughter here. I love it though, they let other buyers have the option of saying if that review was helpful... and above that particular review, it had "0 of 74 people found this review helpful".)
There are a string of reviews that I don't agree with. Like the consensus on the Axis of Justice Concert Series CD was that it sucked. Most people were expecting a concert about demanding justice to be angry, gritty, and similar style to Rage Against the Machine and System of a Down, when it isn't. It's Serj on piano, Tom Morello in his "Nightwatchman" alter ego, Pete Yorn, and others. The only actual power rock song on the cd is a cover of George Clinton's "Alice in My Fantasies", which I can see why some people would be upset about. But those people just don't get it. A) Zack ain't changing his mind about Rage any time soon, as painful as that is to report. B) It was a tactiful concert done excellently. I love the cd and the music is really nothing short of spectacular (though I'm not a huge fan of the cover of Bob Dylan's "Chimes of Freedom", but that's beside the point). Some assclown had the nerve to write a review in which he included the statement "Tom Morello shouldn't be allowed to touch an acoustic guitar". I sent him a PM on Amazon saying "He shouldn't be allowed to touch a computer". I haven't checked if I got a response yet.
*'Bout halfway through the LHS basketball season, I told Cassie that if they made it to the playoffs, no matter where they went, I'd go watch them play. Well, sure enough, they made playoffs... So now it was my turn to hold up my end of the deal. ... Only I wasn't planning on going all the way to Epping. Oi. I didn't really want to drive that far, and considering that I had approximately 0 dollars to put in for gas, I just caught a ride with Cassie's parents, which was cool. We also had to bring Erin's dad with us too. It was going to be a long ride, that's for sure. I brought my cd player, but I was courteous and made small talk with the 3 of them on the way down. After a little bit of confusion on where the school was (of course), we found it and arrived at the same time as the bus.
But we got there, to the rinky-dink warehouse they called their gymnasium. I could tell it wasn't going to be a good night by a few unsightly bad omens. There was this musty smell all throughout the gym... and it was noticable. Blech... ... During the announcing of the players, the announcer got them all right... ... Then completely blows it when she's supposed to announce Cassie, who's the last player to be called. She goes "For the Littleton Crusaders... #34 ... " she stuttered because I'm sure she already knew she blew it, but that didn't stop her from reading the whole thing ... "Amber White"... Yeah, hey girl, you already called Amber White. Go back to 1st grade. So then Cassie goes to the center to shake hands with her opponent and she get's shafted... That ain't cool. And the last sign, in which I actually said "This isn't going to be a good night"... The microphone just went dead in the middle of some girl singing the national anthem. That's enough to get me shakin my head.
And truth be told, it definitely wasn't a good night. Take into consideration that the entire team was uber-sick, add the factor that Cassie also had a bum ankle ontop of a bad illness so she was really only at 75% maybe not even, and also add into consideration that they were playing a 16-2 team that was fully equipped with a 6'1" pound-it-in-the-paint scorer, a 5-foot nothing point guard who was Epping's version of Muggsy Bogues (read: excellent ball-handler), a perimeter sharpshooter who knocked down at least 5 3-pointers, and an entire bench who knew how to play the game well (as opposed to LHS who really only had about 3 or 4 good bench players). Oh, and let's not forget a very whorishly officiated game. VERY whorishly officiated. ... When you add all those factors up, you'll get a 19-point defeat. They weren't crushed, but they were beat. You could tell they were sick too, running the floor slugishly, making silly mistakes, getting beat off the dribble when normally they wouldn't be. I think that was the thing that was holding them down the most. If they were all 100%, it would've been a much closer game.
LHS will be back in the playoffs next year though, I'll even bet on it...
Amazingly, the ride home was smoother than the way down. David was awesome and bought us all dinner (at BK, but whatever...). So last night really didn't cost me anything, which was awesome and I'm truly thankful for.
*My backyard is flooded. The entire backyard has about a foot of water, maybe more. Fortunately it's winter and it's frozen over nicely now. Unfortunately, the landlord put baricades around our backyard so we can't park there anymore. And when you take into the consideration that we're already not allowed to park out front due to the parking ban all winter, where the hell am I going to park? I kept my car out front for the night and seem to have gotten away with it without getting a ticket or whatever (knock on wood). But I don't want to tempt fate by doing it again tonight. I don't dare look how bad it is in my basement. It's probably a midget hockey rink in there by now.
*A day early, but I'm feelin the effects of it already. It's already been a full year since Eric passed away. It's kinda hard to believe that it's already been a full calendar year without him here. It's still so weird... and so depressing... that he hasn't been with us. It's also humbling. You realize that none of us have a lot of time on this Earth. I know, everyone says that... and it wont' register in your brain until you actually lose someone at a young age, like 16. I also hope that none of you reading this has to feel how I felt, and how I still feel today.
Rest in peace, my friend... wherever you are right now.
Eric Ross Dickerman
11/02/87-02/19/04
When the fog comes through the golden gate
And the moon shines on the bay
And everything has changed
Now that you have gone away
Things are getting darker
And its harder for me to see
And now you're an angel
Looking over me
Your life was taken to early and
You will always be missed
All the mothers who cry and the fathers who mourn
For every lifes that taken
Theres another child born
That doesn't make it better and
It doesn't make it right
I'm just thankful everyday that
You came in my life
As time goes on
I can never forget
All the times we had
Memories I protect
Seems like yesterday
When i last saw your face
You're no longer here and
No one can replace
All the times we had
Wish they could happen again
I'll hold you in my heart
In my heart to the end
If I could make a change
It'd be me not you
So hard to sit and cope,
So sad but true
~"Sad But True" - Transplants....
... And I'm out of Mountain Dew. Time to go to Wal Mart!