haven't showered in a week, my loneliness is at its peak...
Ok, so I suppose that I am long overdue for an update. Things have just been so chaotic lately that I've barely had the time to sit in front of a computer screen long enough to update. And when I have had the time (i.e., late at night), I haven't quite had the stamina to stay awake & alert long enough to write anything of substance. So here goes...probably a little long, but I'll be kind and put in cuts wherever I go on really long tangents.
so monday was the first official day of summer school & summer camp. my job. weeeee-- i am teaching a one-student biology class every morning from 8 to 9. it's actually a lot of fun. i feel so disorganized and unprepared to teach it, but whatever...my student seems to be having a good time and she has already learned a little bit about evolution, taxonomy, and some ecology. i'm just coming to realize that the reason things are moving so quickly is because i'm not taking the time out to quiz/test her on anything. so basically every class it's learn, learn, learn as much as possible. i'm worried that i may run out of stuff to do by the 6th week. but we'll see how that goes as time goes on. only 5 more weeks...
part two of my day is camp. lauren andersen and i are the drama counselors for the entire summer camp. that means that every day we see 6 groups: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, and 10-12 year olds, plus an "Older" group and a "Younger" group. The schedule alternates, so one day we see all Boy groups and the next day we see all Girl groups. It's kind of funny the way that it works...one day of all boys (screaming, hyper, rambunctious), the next day of all girls (still hyper, but usually more cooperative and not so all over the place). it's been a lot of fun so far-- really all we do is play games in the theater...and who could ask for a better job than playing games with kids? it's such a low-stress, fun job. the only time it gets tough is when the kids really aren't paying attention or just don't care...a few groups have gotten on our bad side, but for the most part it's been phenomenal.
as soon as the first day of camp was over (that would be monday, june 23 for those of you who are keeping track), i got into joey (my car!), put the top down, and drove up to the webster theater in hartford for JASON MRAZ & MAROON5. Holy ledger lines, Batman- WHAT A CONCERT. AsJSDKFLjfsjdfkl !!!! There are not even words to describe how AWESOME this show was. I got there at around 3:45. Since I was unable to get tickets for anyone else (damn tickets.com), I was by myself. But that didn't stop me...I made friends almost right away with the people in line on either side of me (two groups of girls...one group from Cheshire, oddly enough, the other group from Meriden). We shared a few laughs...made some bathroom pit-stops down the road...LOL, Well, the time didn't pass THAT slowly at least. Then we got in. The opener was Frankie Perez. Thank God he didn't play for very long. He was a very good acoustic act, and he definitely has a good voice. However, his music was highly repetitive and from the moment he said, "Jesus" and "Freedom" in the same song, I knew that his lyrics were far too...how do I say...republican for my taste. When he dedicated a song to "all those wonderful people who live in this wonderful country", I tuned him out. Jason Mraz played next. It was his birthday!!!! He was SO amazing live...He talked to the audience a lot, told us stories about his Mom and his life...all this cool stuff. And his voice is PHENOMENAL. His studio album doesn't even come close to doing justice to Jason's voice. Not only does he have a great voice, but he's got a great "scat" or "vocal jazz" sort of style that took me by surprise and left me in awe. He started with "The Remedy" which made me so happy...and he played like all of his best songs. And Maroon5 came out during his set with a birthday cake. Guess where the cake went. It was thrown into the audience. Yes, thrown. At me. Yes, I had Jason Mraz's birthday cake thrown at me. Haha, it was pretty funny though...all the girls in the audience (most of the audience, actually) got all squeamish and freaked out...it was quality to see a bunch of them get nailed with frosting. The bulk of the cake actually landed just on the other side of the barricade in the front...right in front of me. So during the break between Mraz and Maroon5, I ate cake with my neighbors. Yes, it was a little schievey, but I ate Jason Mraz's birthday cake!! Now, how many people can say that?! After Mraz's more mellow and meditative set that left me completely in awe of his talent (who knew that he could freestyle as well as any rapper?!), Maroon5 came out and rocked the freakin' house. Oh MAN it was great. They played EVERY SINGLE SONG FROM THEIR CD. And I sang along and SCREAMED for them so much. They were just so good live. I knew they were good when I saw them open for John Mayer back in the fall, but WOAH. Being in the front row, just feet away from the band, seeing them put their all into "The Show that they Weigh All Other Shows By" (Yeah, go Webster!) was beyond anything I could have expected. Hearing them do "This Love" live...it was such a high...Such a high. This concert was far and away one of the best concerts I have ever been to, and it will be a long time before I get to see another show this memorable. I bought a bunch of merch (2 t-shirts, a poster, and a CD) so I know I'll be remembering this show for a while.
The drive home that night was a little bit scary. I was so exhausted after the show that I could barely keep my eyes open. I made it home unharmed, but man was I paranoid driving back. I was convinced I would fall asleep behind the wheel.
so after the unbelievable show...i took tuesday night as just kind of a break...i hung out with erin & kate & a few others who showed up like rich j., matty p., timmy d., etc. it was fun...but unfortunately i was having too much fun to realize that it was pretty late and, once again, i only got like 6 hours of sleep. erin & i went for a nice drive with joey, but when we got back to her house, there was this big, scary, angry-looking cat sitting on her sidewalk. it was not cool at all. we drove around the block once, and the cat was gone. but it was scary walking her to the door and then back to the car. scary, scary cat.
so as bio class & camp continued on during the week, i began a 3 (soon to be 4) day concert fest after work with noah. he's a lot of fun to hang out with and we have had some good times together the past few nights. we saw doozer play on wednesday, thursday, and friday nights. wednesday night was a great show at the space in hamden. now rachel l. had her graduation party at the space last saturday...that was the first time i had been to the new space. it is *SO* freaking awesome. it's an incredible performance space and just an all around awesome place to chill. it's a rough place for people with ADD because there are so many cool knick-knacks all around, but it's just got such a unique flavor to it...i love it. not only is the space so awesome -- steve rogers is my hero...and the space is strictly all ages: no alcohol, no drugs- ROCK ON! -- but the show was pretty damn cool too. i liked it the best out of all the doozer shows this week because the bands were so diverse and so passionate about what they were doing. on wednesday, a ska/punk/emo/hardcore band (sugarfist) played, followed by sympathy, a "country punk" (as i have dubbed it) group from texas...they were really good, i felt bad because all these lame-ass poser chicks were talking all through their set. i bough their cd, because i really liked them and one of these days when i have some more free time, i am going to eMail those guys and thank them for a cool show. then these old guys called "the swaggarts" played some rockabilly-- i didn't like the music so much but i really give those old guys credit-- they rocked the house...and with damn style for old guys!! i also heard beener's revenge for the first time at the space-- they are AWESOME. i am surprised that i've never seen them before at a local show cause i know i've seen their name a lot before on flyers and stuff...but this was the first time i actually got to hear them and MAN they are good. they're up there with doozer as some of the best local bands. and then doozer rocked the space. i was kinda worried about them playing at such an eccentric venue that's usually reserved for experimental or at the very least acoustic music, but those guys rocked the space like it's never been rocked. bam!
thursday night's show was at toad's place. marley & her sister robin came which was cool, but on the whole, i really didn't get too into this show. doozer played first and did damn well (as usual)...but the other bands were not so hot, and i wasn't really into the whole scary punks beating each other up scene that people seemed to bring. some band played (don't remember their name, someone compared them to the River City Rebels, if that means anything to anyone). an angry punk chick punched me in the chest right as they came on...i guess she wanted to start a mosh pit. it scared the crap outta me cause i was just watching the band finish setting up when BOOM- she was right in my face. well, i backed the fuck out of the middle of that crowd and right to the edge where the scary, spasmodic punks couldn't get me. authority zero played next...they were just ok, and they played for too long. however, there was a really funny guy who was trying to dance & sing along that noah, matt, and i made fun of behind his back. i seriously almost wet my pants...i swear this kid was TRYING to make us laugh. o well...catch 22 played and they were pretty good ska...but after a while, i was just too tired and not enjoying the whole scene, so noah & i both decided that it was time to leave a little early.
tonight, the show was supposed to be at the Cheshire High School tennis courts -- but because of the threat of rain, the show was moved inside to the Cheshire Parks & Rec building. It was probably the worst local show I've ever been to...and I have been to my share of local shows now. woah...so awful. the kids from cheshire were so dumb and so annoying, and the bands themselves were painfully bad. after this one band played, noah turned to me and said, "please tell me we're not that bad." (lol, duh! no one could have been as bad as the sucky, terrible, just plain bad band from cheshire whose name i don't remember and don't care to remember, either...barnyard animals playing instruments would probably be better than some of these bands from last night.) when doozer was setting up, they discovered a number of problems. 1- The stage was barely big enough for all the guys. 2- The stage was made out of 3 tables that shook and pushed apart whenever the band jumped. Slight problems...that turned into HUGE problems during the show. i marvel at the fact that the stage didn't break. but doozer faced the many obstacles of the cheshire show and kicked that park & rec's ass. rock on, doozer!! i think i have a week-or-so hiatus before i see them again...july 7 & 8 is the Broken Hearts Fest at the K of C in Hamden. HIDDEN IN PLAIN VIEW is playing with 3RD CHANCE and DOOZER!!! HIDDEN IN PLAIN VIEW...a real life DRIVE THRU band-- asdflkjskdfjasdfj!!! I don't believe it. This is so freaking awesome, I can't stand it! And Tommy doesn't even know yet-- cause he's on his Outward Bound trip and they didn't find out until after he left. yes. yes, yes, yes!!
so that's the long and short of it...mostly the long of it, apparently. i'm having fun so far. i guess i'm pretty lucky that my summer all fell into my lap for me right at the last minute. no more glenwood, just camp & ken e's on saturday mornings...how sweet is this.
i hope everyone else is having an awesome summer, too. everyone is away right now, it seems, so i'm sure everyone is having the time of his life. i miss people, though...tommy, katie, sara...and you know who i miss? my lj friend from fl - chris (chrisplaysdrums). i really enjoy reading his entries. but he, too, is away right now. but you know, sometimes it's good to miss people...it makes you appreciate them more when you see them again.
well, in true jon fashion, i fell asleep writing this entry and woke up to finish it at like 2:30 AM. so i'm tired now and it's definitely time for bed. goodnight all-- stay cool...and stay in touch with me, amigos!
so monday was the first official day of summer school & summer camp. my job. weeeee-- i am teaching a one-student biology class every morning from 8 to 9. it's actually a lot of fun. i feel so disorganized and unprepared to teach it, but whatever...my student seems to be having a good time and she has already learned a little bit about evolution, taxonomy, and some ecology. i'm just coming to realize that the reason things are moving so quickly is because i'm not taking the time out to quiz/test her on anything. so basically every class it's learn, learn, learn as much as possible. i'm worried that i may run out of stuff to do by the 6th week. but we'll see how that goes as time goes on. only 5 more weeks...
part two of my day is camp. lauren andersen and i are the drama counselors for the entire summer camp. that means that every day we see 6 groups: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, and 10-12 year olds, plus an "Older" group and a "Younger" group. The schedule alternates, so one day we see all Boy groups and the next day we see all Girl groups. It's kind of funny the way that it works...one day of all boys (screaming, hyper, rambunctious), the next day of all girls (still hyper, but usually more cooperative and not so all over the place). it's been a lot of fun so far-- really all we do is play games in the theater...and who could ask for a better job than playing games with kids? it's such a low-stress, fun job. the only time it gets tough is when the kids really aren't paying attention or just don't care...a few groups have gotten on our bad side, but for the most part it's been phenomenal.
as soon as the first day of camp was over (that would be monday, june 23 for those of you who are keeping track), i got into joey (my car!), put the top down, and drove up to the webster theater in hartford for JASON MRAZ & MAROON5. Holy ledger lines, Batman- WHAT A CONCERT. AsJSDKFLjfsjdfkl !!!! There are not even words to describe how AWESOME this show was. I got there at around 3:45. Since I was unable to get tickets for anyone else (damn tickets.com), I was by myself. But that didn't stop me...I made friends almost right away with the people in line on either side of me (two groups of girls...one group from Cheshire, oddly enough, the other group from Meriden). We shared a few laughs...made some bathroom pit-stops down the road...LOL, Well, the time didn't pass THAT slowly at least. Then we got in. The opener was Frankie Perez. Thank God he didn't play for very long. He was a very good acoustic act, and he definitely has a good voice. However, his music was highly repetitive and from the moment he said, "Jesus" and "Freedom" in the same song, I knew that his lyrics were far too...how do I say...republican for my taste. When he dedicated a song to "all those wonderful people who live in this wonderful country", I tuned him out. Jason Mraz played next. It was his birthday!!!! He was SO amazing live...He talked to the audience a lot, told us stories about his Mom and his life...all this cool stuff. And his voice is PHENOMENAL. His studio album doesn't even come close to doing justice to Jason's voice. Not only does he have a great voice, but he's got a great "scat" or "vocal jazz" sort of style that took me by surprise and left me in awe. He started with "The Remedy" which made me so happy...and he played like all of his best songs. And Maroon5 came out during his set with a birthday cake. Guess where the cake went. It was thrown into the audience. Yes, thrown. At me. Yes, I had Jason Mraz's birthday cake thrown at me. Haha, it was pretty funny though...all the girls in the audience (most of the audience, actually) got all squeamish and freaked out...it was quality to see a bunch of them get nailed with frosting. The bulk of the cake actually landed just on the other side of the barricade in the front...right in front of me. So during the break between Mraz and Maroon5, I ate cake with my neighbors. Yes, it was a little schievey, but I ate Jason Mraz's birthday cake!! Now, how many people can say that?! After Mraz's more mellow and meditative set that left me completely in awe of his talent (who knew that he could freestyle as well as any rapper?!), Maroon5 came out and rocked the freakin' house. Oh MAN it was great. They played EVERY SINGLE SONG FROM THEIR CD. And I sang along and SCREAMED for them so much. They were just so good live. I knew they were good when I saw them open for John Mayer back in the fall, but WOAH. Being in the front row, just feet away from the band, seeing them put their all into "The Show that they Weigh All Other Shows By" (Yeah, go Webster!) was beyond anything I could have expected. Hearing them do "This Love" live...it was such a high...Such a high. This concert was far and away one of the best concerts I have ever been to, and it will be a long time before I get to see another show this memorable. I bought a bunch of merch (2 t-shirts, a poster, and a CD) so I know I'll be remembering this show for a while.
The drive home that night was a little bit scary. I was so exhausted after the show that I could barely keep my eyes open. I made it home unharmed, but man was I paranoid driving back. I was convinced I would fall asleep behind the wheel.
so after the unbelievable show...i took tuesday night as just kind of a break...i hung out with erin & kate & a few others who showed up like rich j., matty p., timmy d., etc. it was fun...but unfortunately i was having too much fun to realize that it was pretty late and, once again, i only got like 6 hours of sleep. erin & i went for a nice drive with joey, but when we got back to her house, there was this big, scary, angry-looking cat sitting on her sidewalk. it was not cool at all. we drove around the block once, and the cat was gone. but it was scary walking her to the door and then back to the car. scary, scary cat.
so as bio class & camp continued on during the week, i began a 3 (soon to be 4) day concert fest after work with noah. he's a lot of fun to hang out with and we have had some good times together the past few nights. we saw doozer play on wednesday, thursday, and friday nights. wednesday night was a great show at the space in hamden. now rachel l. had her graduation party at the space last saturday...that was the first time i had been to the new space. it is *SO* freaking awesome. it's an incredible performance space and just an all around awesome place to chill. it's a rough place for people with ADD because there are so many cool knick-knacks all around, but it's just got such a unique flavor to it...i love it. not only is the space so awesome -- steve rogers is my hero...and the space is strictly all ages: no alcohol, no drugs- ROCK ON! -- but the show was pretty damn cool too. i liked it the best out of all the doozer shows this week because the bands were so diverse and so passionate about what they were doing. on wednesday, a ska/punk/emo/hardcore band (sugarfist) played, followed by sympathy, a "country punk" (as i have dubbed it) group from texas...they were really good, i felt bad because all these lame-ass poser chicks were talking all through their set. i bough their cd, because i really liked them and one of these days when i have some more free time, i am going to eMail those guys and thank them for a cool show. then these old guys called "the swaggarts" played some rockabilly-- i didn't like the music so much but i really give those old guys credit-- they rocked the house...and with damn style for old guys!! i also heard beener's revenge for the first time at the space-- they are AWESOME. i am surprised that i've never seen them before at a local show cause i know i've seen their name a lot before on flyers and stuff...but this was the first time i actually got to hear them and MAN they are good. they're up there with doozer as some of the best local bands. and then doozer rocked the space. i was kinda worried about them playing at such an eccentric venue that's usually reserved for experimental or at the very least acoustic music, but those guys rocked the space like it's never been rocked. bam!
thursday night's show was at toad's place. marley & her sister robin came which was cool, but on the whole, i really didn't get too into this show. doozer played first and did damn well (as usual)...but the other bands were not so hot, and i wasn't really into the whole scary punks beating each other up scene that people seemed to bring. some band played (don't remember their name, someone compared them to the River City Rebels, if that means anything to anyone). an angry punk chick punched me in the chest right as they came on...i guess she wanted to start a mosh pit. it scared the crap outta me cause i was just watching the band finish setting up when BOOM- she was right in my face. well, i backed the fuck out of the middle of that crowd and right to the edge where the scary, spasmodic punks couldn't get me. authority zero played next...they were just ok, and they played for too long. however, there was a really funny guy who was trying to dance & sing along that noah, matt, and i made fun of behind his back. i seriously almost wet my pants...i swear this kid was TRYING to make us laugh. o well...catch 22 played and they were pretty good ska...but after a while, i was just too tired and not enjoying the whole scene, so noah & i both decided that it was time to leave a little early.
tonight, the show was supposed to be at the Cheshire High School tennis courts -- but because of the threat of rain, the show was moved inside to the Cheshire Parks & Rec building. It was probably the worst local show I've ever been to...and I have been to my share of local shows now. woah...so awful. the kids from cheshire were so dumb and so annoying, and the bands themselves were painfully bad. after this one band played, noah turned to me and said, "please tell me we're not that bad." (lol, duh! no one could have been as bad as the sucky, terrible, just plain bad band from cheshire whose name i don't remember and don't care to remember, either...barnyard animals playing instruments would probably be better than some of these bands from last night.) when doozer was setting up, they discovered a number of problems. 1- The stage was barely big enough for all the guys. 2- The stage was made out of 3 tables that shook and pushed apart whenever the band jumped. Slight problems...that turned into HUGE problems during the show. i marvel at the fact that the stage didn't break. but doozer faced the many obstacles of the cheshire show and kicked that park & rec's ass. rock on, doozer!! i think i have a week-or-so hiatus before i see them again...july 7 & 8 is the Broken Hearts Fest at the K of C in Hamden. HIDDEN IN PLAIN VIEW is playing with 3RD CHANCE and DOOZER!!! HIDDEN IN PLAIN VIEW...a real life DRIVE THRU band-- asdflkjskdfjasdfj!!! I don't believe it. This is so freaking awesome, I can't stand it! And Tommy doesn't even know yet-- cause he's on his Outward Bound trip and they didn't find out until after he left. yes. yes, yes, yes!!
so that's the long and short of it...mostly the long of it, apparently. i'm having fun so far. i guess i'm pretty lucky that my summer all fell into my lap for me right at the last minute. no more glenwood, just camp & ken e's on saturday mornings...how sweet is this.
i hope everyone else is having an awesome summer, too. everyone is away right now, it seems, so i'm sure everyone is having the time of his life. i miss people, though...tommy, katie, sara...and you know who i miss? my lj friend from fl - chris (chrisplaysdrums). i really enjoy reading his entries. but he, too, is away right now. but you know, sometimes it's good to miss people...it makes you appreciate them more when you see them again.
well, in true jon fashion, i fell asleep writing this entry and woke up to finish it at like 2:30 AM. so i'm tired now and it's definitely time for bed. goodnight all-- stay cool...and stay in touch with me, amigos!