Broken Hands, Empty Bottles. Summertime in the Willamette Valley.

I guess I should add stubborn weather and constant sneezing to that description, but I don't think anyone can make allergies sound the least bit romantic. At least the unseasonable rain does give a bit of relief from the pollen. That's me, always looking at the bright side of things. I actually have very little intention of complaining (surprise, surprise) I just figured I owed my public a bit of a ramble since it's been 2 months since the last one. I did have a pretty epic 7 point plan to have THE BEST SUMMER EVER. Something about this being the last summer in my twenties, combined with my lack of being on call all the time, made me get a little over ambitious. It's been a bit of a rough start. Fortunately, step 7 was deviate from the plan whenever necessary, so that's the step I have been following most closely.

So far it hasn't been too bad. I am in school for the next eight weeks, and while I would rather probably be loafing in a kiddie pool somewhere, lord knows I did not need to invite the kind of trouble that four months off of school and a steady stream of unemployment checks could conjure up. I broke my right pinky playing softball (and with the big 16 inch Chicago ball too, traitor!), but fortunately it is on the hand I already broke once, so I think the previous nerve damage is making it pretty painless. If that came off as macabre in any way, I really didn't mean it too. I am just very happy that it hurts as little as it does.

On the upside, I've already been camping (the last time was about 3 years ago, so long over due) and I figure (with admittedly corrupt logic) that since I already broke something, that somehow makes the Rock Slides and other adventures all the safer.

I don't plan on getting too sidetracked by these little upsets. This could still go down in the books as the best summer yet. If not, I guess there's always my 30's.

Live: Wire

In some sort of late 20's punk rock pissing contest, I decided to pretend that I wasn't too busy in the middle of the week to drive 4 hours round trip to see a show. Who needs sleep? These guys put out one of my favorite albums of all time; Pink Flag. Of course, that was in the '70s and the subsequent albums have ranged from disappointing to intolerable, but hell, I can sit through half a set of crap to see them live and hopefully hear a couple classics. Unfortunately, I apparently only like their album Pink Flag and their performance was crushingly boring. I know they have the right to "evolve as artists" and all that, and quite frankly, they're in their 60's so maybe not the dynamos of energy they once were. Still, I saw the Ex play last month and while a similar band demographically, they destroyed my face with their set. And I had never previously heard a single song they played, they had just somehow managed to bring as much energy and intention to their new stuff as the old.

I found that I felt embarrassed for ever liking Wire. Sure, Pink Flag will always be a great album, but as an aging punk I fell into the trap of associating my own identity with what in the end turns out to be just some band. As I wandered amidst the morbidly obese in their studded leather bustiers (the show was at Dante's after all) I wonder "What the hell I am doing here?". Then there was the kinda skinhead guy in the TSOL shirt dancing like a raver. Ugh. The one consolation was at least I had avoided the bad band tattoo trap; given my stature, demeanor and incongruous heterosexuality, the last thing I needed to go with my mohawk as a kid was a tattoo of a pink flag.

The next day, crippled with exhaustion, I manage to publicly screw up in front of everyone of consequence in the Math department. I can no longer even cling to the idea that while I may be the dumbest person in the department, at least I have better taste in music. That hurts more than anything.

AS&S!

I am sorry I have been remiss in my bloggerly duties. One of the things that has been recently distracting me is my exciting new package I just received from American Science and Surplus. http://www.sciplus.com/index.cfm

This place is the absolute best. I guess they now have a few physical locations throughout the greater Chicagoland area. I used to go to the one on the far, far Northwest side every time I realized I had about 6 hours in which to whip up my science fair project for the year, or whenever I desperately needed 600 teddy bear eyes. They never failed to have enough weird shit to come up with something. In someways, I like their website even better. I know that may sound strange, because wandering the vastness of their physical collection is pretty spectacular, but there is something truly special about their online catalog. For one thing, they not only provide photographs of the vast array of transistor switches and rubber dinosaurs, they actually have some schlub that sits around and does line drawings of EVERYTHING. This must be someones full time job and I am so thrilled that a job like that exists.

They also have the most ridiculous tag system imaginable. (I found this image of "tweedlers" while searching the tag "FatNSweaty". Don't ask me why.)

On my last visit to the site, in addition to the array of rubber dinosaurs, periodic table mugs and, of course, teddy bear eyes, I ordered,  I decided to risk it and order their mystery box. For $10 bucks you get a bunch of weird stuff. They have two options, the "Consumer" and "Electro-Mechanical" surprise box. I went with the consumer version. Totally worth it. I am sure if you build robots in your spare time, the electro-mechanical option would be better than Christmas.

As you can see a portion of above, I received a plethora of fun time junk. I think the gem of the bunch may be the Black Heritage wrapping paper, although the creepy glasses with the white out eyes are also pretty wonderful.