Archive for June, 2003

Went to see CURLUPANDDIE last nite at the fireside. I met up with brooks before the show, and we took the L to potbellys, and then to the show. I figured since we planned on drinking, that the L was our best bet cuz neither of us would be in any shape for driving. I was right. When we arrived, youngdave and christy were waiting for us outside. I got pimped and was not on the guest list as was promised by the publicity person at Revelation, so I was rather pissed off at having to shell out the admission that I didn’t plan on having to pay. It was worth it in the end though. We were in the bar for the first two bands, and they didn’t soudn that thrilling. Since my retirement has just ended, I am even more of a lightweight than I used to be, so I had a superbuzz going by the time CUAD started. They were amazing, though they didn’t play the one song I was hoping that they would, “You’d Be Cuter if I Shot You in the Face”. Still they kicked major ass and I think I may have soiled my pants from their sheer brutality and power! I took some action shots with the camera, here is a couple samples.

That third one was with the fisheye lens setting on, which for some reason doesn’t allow the flash to be used.

After they were done, it was still early so we all retired to the bar and proceeded to get drunk. Youngdave left far too early though, which was a bit of a let down. After a while we went over to liar’s club where the fun continued, but at that point I was done drinking and only downing water as I had enough to know that one more was gonna make me sick. Brooks and I ended up leaving our cars at my work and had to go back and get them today thanks to a ride to the city from one of his friends. As I write this, I am way over-tired but the fun continues tonight at Clown Ranch where they are having a party, then we are going down to Heritage Fest in downtown DG.

The new Curlupanddie EP, We May Be Through with the Past is fucking great! The title of this entry is the second (and best) song on there.

OK, off to the cash station and then the ranch. If yr in the DG area tonite, head over to the fest and find us in the beer garden.

The Sox vs Cubs game kicked ass. A well scripted game. Sox won 4 to 3. I am sunburned on my knees and face. I am bright red, as red as my Rocket From the Tombs shirt that I have on. Now just waiting for Brooks to show up so we can go to Potbellies and over to the fireside bowl for the punk rock show. You fuckers better show up!

CURL UP AND DIE
AFTERPROJECT
TAKEN
@ FIRESIDE BOWL - 2646 w. FULLERTON - CHICAGO - 773-486-2700
3 BLOCKS N.E. of the BLUE LINE (California stop)
Doors 6pm

CURLUPANDDIE are mighty! Everyone reading this should attend. Hell, I might even buy you a beer.

Why is it that people can’t read. You sell something on ebay, you put in the auction description, and in the payment instructions at the end in ALL CAPS that you do not take personal checks, and these shitheaps send you one anyway! Can’t these assholes read something in ALL CAPS that stands out?! I should just start leaving these people negative feedback just on the grounds of their being ignorant.

Sunday nite I was looking for something in the house to have for dinner. I came across a box of scalloped potatoes that had been in there for a very long time. I mean a LONG time! But it is boxed food, how can it go bad I told myself. So I made it. It didn’t really taste very good. I watched some TV and went to bed. During the nite, I woke up with a terrible stomach ache. I felt like I had to throw up, but nothing would come out. This kept me up most of the nite. Finally when the alarm went off, I got up, and then threw up, msg’d work to say I wasn’t coming in, and then threw up some more. Damn those things nearly killed me. I felt like shit the rest of the day and slept half of it, and only ate bread and pretzels all day. What was funny though was that a friend from work called me around 5:30pm and asked if I was in at all that day, to which I said no. He and another worker swore they saw me there that day. They hallucinated me! I found it funny that they are seeing ghosts of me while I’m not there.

I’m back at work today. I kept down breakfast so far, but I still feel kind of out of it. As long as I am back to normal for the CURLUPANDDIE show then all will be fine. That show is this friday and I expect all of you, my friends, to be at the fireside bowl for it at 7pm. Pre-show potbellys will commence at around 6:30.

Last nite we had league finals over at TK’s house. I tanked, bad. I lost my first fight, then won the next, then lost the best of 3 match against MK, and that was the end of me. My playing sucked and I was disappointed that I didn’t even finish well in the B group. This whole season of league has been plagued for me with bad playing, and outside forces occupying my mind and making my playing suck. Oh well. What was far more fun that evening, and more noteworthy was TK had a mame cabinet, and a couple of my friends fired up Track and Field. I was watching them play and giving them tips, tips that I dug out of the depths of my brain and I didn’t know were in there. I had not played the game I think since I was about 15 or 16 years old! So they goaded me into playing it. I forewarned them that I would most likely suck at it now since it has been so long…

To put it mildly, I kicked that game’s ass. For those who may not remember it, or know it, Track and Field is an old arcade game in which you partake in olympic events. The controls consist of two run buttons and a jump/throw button. To make yr character run, you have to alternate hitting the run buttons as fast as humanly possilbe. It is quite a physical game, I mean you realy have to whale on those things nitro fast! Back in my time, I was the best I knew at the game. In fact - I even once won a trophy for high score of the week at the local arcade when they first got the game. I have saved it all these years as it is the only trophy I have won to this day.

When I was young, it fell off a shelf and broke, and I had to repair it. Damn near broke my heart that it did, but at least it was able to be fixed somewhat.

Anyway, after you cycle thru all the events on the machines I always played, the game would end. However that was a setting on the game the operator could adjust. The one I played last nite was set to let the game continue after all the events were won, and upping the difficulty on the next go-round. Also you got a free guy every 100,000 so if you failed to qualify, you could still go on to the next event at the cost of one of yr reserve men.

I proceeded to play for over 2 hours on the same game. It stopped getting harder after about the 3rd time through. I was on the 14th time through when my game finally ended. The only thing that stopped me from playing forever was fatigue, and pain, which eventually got to be greater than my ability to overcome them and hit those buttons faster than any mortal man. Below is my final score

By the time it ended, my arms were so sore I could hardly lift them up, and something else happened to me that never happened to me in my youth that involved full days of game playing….