how i spent my winter vacation:
took amtrak to stl on dec 24th. arrived in stl on dec 25th at 1am. stayed up with weiner dog and young loud scotty until about 4am playing video games.
dec25th - extended family came over for a few hours. no football games were watched, which was a pleasant change from holidays past. mattmike showed up with the tofurkey. i brought the cupcakes and brownies. the weiner dog attacked my pregnant cousin sara the second she walked in the door. i think he senses that her and i butt heads, and well, he's my dog...but really, how much damage can a ten pound ankle-biter do?
went to see no country for old men with karen that night. met up with four other people for drinks in dogtown. nice company and conversation.
dec26th - carbondale for tattoooooooos!! octopus looks badass. its only outlined and shaded in purple/black. its scabbed over right now and itches like hell. i have difficulty keeping it moisturized this time of year.
dec 27th - headed to philly. ate at govinda's. got intoxicated at the kyber. no smoking in bars in philly....total!
dec28th - asbury park, nj surprised me. i thought new jersey was all toxic wasteland and a bruce springsteen 1985 time warp. but the shoreline where i was was beautiful. majestic victorian-style beach houses. i saw two lesbians with two weiner dogs running in the the sand and surf and eight hardcore surfers in full body wetsuits trying to catch a few before sunset.
dined at a place called sister sue's. vegan trinidad and tobaggo cuisine. interesting.
went to the stone pony to see ergs! and bouncing souls. ergs sounded solid, but again it was weird seeing them in a larger venue up on a stage behind a barricade. the sound was good, though, but not enough people dancing. bouncing souls set...slightly disappointing. two dudes were holding up cue cards to text pete and i assume that they were then playing the texted requests. so of course the set didn't flow at all and contained mostly newer material that i was unfamiliar with. they played shark attack, which is the only time they have ever played that song live.
the stone pony was an alright venue as far a larger clubs go. they had a food window, and the menu included veggie burgers and super pretzels. the beer on special was yungeling (sp?). not bad. i guess that is east coast's version on old style. the best part was the fireplace! i sat on the hearth and warmed my backside and socailized with some people i met from delaware and also two girls from manhattan.
no smoking in bars in new jersey...total! also, in jersey, pumping ones own gas is against the law!! unbelievable!
dec 29th - went to seaside heights to see the ergs play at the ortley beach police sub-station with six hardcore bands. i couldn't even make something like that up. i felt very uncomfortable. but the show was entertaining. i left during an equipment malfunction during the second band and headed out to get some pizza. the town was a total beach town and pretty much deserted, but i found a place, and the owners were very nice and accomadating and did not skimp on the pineapples.
filled up on pizza and headed back to the show. saw two fights....hardcore boys...i swear!! ergs finally played. it was awesome to see them again in a smaller, diy venue. the people who were there went crazy, singing along and dancing. the set was a lot of fun, and included covers of lineoleum, screaming at a wall, and fuck christmas.
dec 30th - headed back to philly and hung out with jay stein all day. we ate at sabrina's and went to the art museum. went to a whole foods and found those cookies i have been looking for for so long...the oatmeal raisan ones with icing in the middle. i bought two. passed out quite early.
dec 31st - headed to colorado for tbr and the nobodys for a new year's eve show. felt incredibly awkard, but the show was a lot of fun. the venue was way small, and there was only maybe forty people there, and we were all crammed into that room! but it was nice seeing tbr in a smaller venue like that. they played a long time, sounded great, encored, and just seemed to be having a good time. they played a lot of songs from total and also a lot of the new material, which was nice. i bought the new cd. i'm listening to it right now. the nobodys also played a long set and sounded good. beer in colorado is incredibly cheap. old style was there, which surprised me. i indulged until it was sold out, and then switched to pints of pbr.
no smoking in bars in colorado springs...total!
the trip was worth my time and money. mostly spent time alone, which is not really a problem for me. i was glad that i took action to do something that i wanted to do instead of sit around in winterwonderland and bitch about everything.
jan 1st - returned to chicago. a temp of 6 degrees and four inches of snow was waiting for me. no smoking in bars in chicago anymore...total!!
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