Does your shampoo make you feel like this? Mine Does.
Driving in a car with someone you don't know very well can be an awkward experience. Particularly when it comes to the music selection. I've been driving my uncle Dan home from work on occasion because he lets one of the kids drive him to work and then take the car. The first trip home I decided on no music. It's only a 15 minutes drive and we were just chatting anyways. I thought about this for a while and decided the next drive home, we would listen to The Crane Wife 1 & 2 by the Decemberists. It's a good song(s), not too offensive, not too loud. I figued anyone could enjoy it. So, that's what we did. He didn't say anything about the music (I honestly don't think he really cares). However, later that night, we hopped in his van to go get some food or something and what does he turn on? Fergie. Huh. Who knew? I suppose the Decemberists was not really up his alley.
Oh scratch that. We weren't getting food, we were on our way to Claire's school concert, and speaking of which, I was thinking about how I was the only one who really enjoyed the thing. I was like "man, if this is what it's like to be a parent, I could do this." But then I realized that it might not be considered "good parenting" to go to your child's events and then sit in the back and laugh at the kids. Then again, what's worse, laughing at the kids and enjoying yourself and being entertained, or not caring about what's going on and hoping that the thing ends soon. A lot of parents just wanted to leave. Boo that. Just sit back and watch the bow tie kid.
I've begun to figure out what weirds me out about the weird kid at work. My insticts that we probably don't have much in common were correct. He's nice and all, but here's a list of things we talked about that made me think that we probably don't have much to share with each other:
1) After telling him I was going to see Minus the Bear, he informed me that he has never been to a concert. Ever.
2) His reasons for not going to concerts was "I've heard that some bad things go on at rock concerts. People get drunk and smoke pot. At some festivals women get raped. It's not really my scene." Apparently he was referring to something they used to have here called "X-fest" which was like a hard rock music festival. In any case, I told him that there are shows out there with tamer crowds.
3) His response to that, "Well... with the music I listen to, I dunno. I mean, would you ever go to... like... a Van Halen concert?" To which I naturally responded, "HELL YEAH I'd go to a Van Halen concert! That'd be freaking awesome! I tried to go one year but it was in detroit and tickets were 70 bucks." How dare he assume I wouldn't go see Van Halen. I'd go see anything Halen.
4) He tried to convince me to get a PC laptop instead of a Mac next time I get a new computer. Screw that. His reasons:
A) The bright colors are unprofessional. - Too bad all their laptops are white and grey now.
B) Excel runs better on a PC - Maybe if you're running some huge database, but not if I'm making a chart of when my friends are working at the local coffee shop so I know when I can get free coffee.
C) It's expensive to replace the video card. - I've never replaced a video card in a computer in my life.
D) He only uses his computer for the word processor, excel, and internet. - I don't want to be one of those guys that gets a Mac and then looks down on everyone who uses PC's. I still own a PC, and it's pretty nice, I just like my iBook better. Anyways, he did not convince me to switch back. Oh, I also told him that I use garage band a lot and also Photoshop and Illustrator to which he responded, "Yeah, see, you actually use your computer." This kid was not winning points with me during this conversation. But back to reasons why he's weird.
5) He likes Star Trek, but not Star Wars because "Star Trek is more realistic". Now... if you're going to get into some ridiculous Sci-fi adventure thing, realism should not be high on your list of requirements. Anyways, he was saying that in 2000 years, he believes we will be able to travel to other galaxies. I disagree. Why? Because other galaxies are FAR. He claims to have read some scientist say that we could bend space, but we don't have the technology yet. I think I'm going to ask him to get me a copy of that paper.
I think that's about it for now. I'm sure he'll say some more ridiculous stuff as the summer progresses.
I went to see Minus the Bear last night at the TRIPLE ROCK. Man, that venue did not win points. Doors were supposedly at 9. I showed up at 9:30 thinking that would be enough time to be able to walk right in without waiting and maybe skip some of the opener. WRONG. There was a line down the effing block. I stood in said line until about 10:30, then went up to the front and asked what the D is. One of the opening bands was still sound checking. Lame. Screw them. If they can't get their shit up in time, then they don't get a sound check. The bouncer suggested I wait in the bar to which I responded, "There a BAR?!" There was a bar attached to the place where all the 21+ guests seemed to be hanging out. I thought I felt a little old waiting in that line. So, I purchased a beverage and stood around, striking what I assumed to be an attractive pose. No one seemed to interested in making friends with me though. ...arrogant indie kids... Well, one guy did, but he seemed pretty drunk and he was playing pool by himself and he had a jimmy johns employee shirt on. This time I was the one being an arrogant jerk. It's good to be on the other side of that. Seriously though, he was werid. Way weirder than me.
I finally got into the actual venue at 11:15. More than 2 hours after the doors were supposed to open. I sat through some rapper that opened for Minus the Bear that I wasn't really into. Not that he was bad (he may or may not have been bad) I just don't really like rap. I'll be honest. Minus the Bear was pretty good, but I got really tired and I really just wanted them to play everything from Highly Refined Pirates. They could've mixed the order up if they wanted, I'd allow that, but I wasn't too interested in hearing new stuff. Anyways, it was a so-so show. I couldn't tell if the neighborhood I was in was sketchy or not. It seemed to switch back and forth each block, but walking alone in a city you don't know at 1:30 in the morning is a little unnerving. I was fine, though.
Oh, there's a frigging Nomad World Pub there. I didn't know that was a chain. This one had Bocce Ball tournaments too. I was happy to see that.
Alright, that's all for now. Take care.
-Mike Sherry
Here's your moment of zen.
Oh scratch that. We weren't getting food, we were on our way to Claire's school concert, and speaking of which, I was thinking about how I was the only one who really enjoyed the thing. I was like "man, if this is what it's like to be a parent, I could do this." But then I realized that it might not be considered "good parenting" to go to your child's events and then sit in the back and laugh at the kids. Then again, what's worse, laughing at the kids and enjoying yourself and being entertained, or not caring about what's going on and hoping that the thing ends soon. A lot of parents just wanted to leave. Boo that. Just sit back and watch the bow tie kid.
I've begun to figure out what weirds me out about the weird kid at work. My insticts that we probably don't have much in common were correct. He's nice and all, but here's a list of things we talked about that made me think that we probably don't have much to share with each other:
1) After telling him I was going to see Minus the Bear, he informed me that he has never been to a concert. Ever.
2) His reasons for not going to concerts was "I've heard that some bad things go on at rock concerts. People get drunk and smoke pot. At some festivals women get raped. It's not really my scene." Apparently he was referring to something they used to have here called "X-fest" which was like a hard rock music festival. In any case, I told him that there are shows out there with tamer crowds.
3) His response to that, "Well... with the music I listen to, I dunno. I mean, would you ever go to... like... a Van Halen concert?" To which I naturally responded, "HELL YEAH I'd go to a Van Halen concert! That'd be freaking awesome! I tried to go one year but it was in detroit and tickets were 70 bucks." How dare he assume I wouldn't go see Van Halen. I'd go see anything Halen.
4) He tried to convince me to get a PC laptop instead of a Mac next time I get a new computer. Screw that. His reasons:
A) The bright colors are unprofessional. - Too bad all their laptops are white and grey now.
B) Excel runs better on a PC - Maybe if you're running some huge database, but not if I'm making a chart of when my friends are working at the local coffee shop so I know when I can get free coffee.
C) It's expensive to replace the video card. - I've never replaced a video card in a computer in my life.
D) He only uses his computer for the word processor, excel, and internet. - I don't want to be one of those guys that gets a Mac and then looks down on everyone who uses PC's. I still own a PC, and it's pretty nice, I just like my iBook better. Anyways, he did not convince me to switch back. Oh, I also told him that I use garage band a lot and also Photoshop and Illustrator to which he responded, "Yeah, see, you actually use your computer." This kid was not winning points with me during this conversation. But back to reasons why he's weird.
5) He likes Star Trek, but not Star Wars because "Star Trek is more realistic". Now... if you're going to get into some ridiculous Sci-fi adventure thing, realism should not be high on your list of requirements. Anyways, he was saying that in 2000 years, he believes we will be able to travel to other galaxies. I disagree. Why? Because other galaxies are FAR. He claims to have read some scientist say that we could bend space, but we don't have the technology yet. I think I'm going to ask him to get me a copy of that paper.
I think that's about it for now. I'm sure he'll say some more ridiculous stuff as the summer progresses.
I went to see Minus the Bear last night at the TRIPLE ROCK. Man, that venue did not win points. Doors were supposedly at 9. I showed up at 9:30 thinking that would be enough time to be able to walk right in without waiting and maybe skip some of the opener. WRONG. There was a line down the effing block. I stood in said line until about 10:30, then went up to the front and asked what the D is. One of the opening bands was still sound checking. Lame. Screw them. If they can't get their shit up in time, then they don't get a sound check. The bouncer suggested I wait in the bar to which I responded, "There a BAR?!" There was a bar attached to the place where all the 21+ guests seemed to be hanging out. I thought I felt a little old waiting in that line. So, I purchased a beverage and stood around, striking what I assumed to be an attractive pose. No one seemed to interested in making friends with me though. ...arrogant indie kids... Well, one guy did, but he seemed pretty drunk and he was playing pool by himself and he had a jimmy johns employee shirt on. This time I was the one being an arrogant jerk. It's good to be on the other side of that. Seriously though, he was werid. Way weirder than me.
I finally got into the actual venue at 11:15. More than 2 hours after the doors were supposed to open. I sat through some rapper that opened for Minus the Bear that I wasn't really into. Not that he was bad (he may or may not have been bad) I just don't really like rap. I'll be honest. Minus the Bear was pretty good, but I got really tired and I really just wanted them to play everything from Highly Refined Pirates. They could've mixed the order up if they wanted, I'd allow that, but I wasn't too interested in hearing new stuff. Anyways, it was a so-so show. I couldn't tell if the neighborhood I was in was sketchy or not. It seemed to switch back and forth each block, but walking alone in a city you don't know at 1:30 in the morning is a little unnerving. I was fine, though.
Oh, there's a frigging Nomad World Pub there. I didn't know that was a chain. This one had Bocce Ball tournaments too. I was happy to see that.
Alright, that's all for now. Take care.
-Mike Sherry
Here's your moment of zen.