ouch

"Does that have to hurt so damn bad", I say to Scottie my good friend and tattoo artist. A tattoo "colector" has a relationship with their artist like a drunk has with their bartender. A good one knows what you like, and will listen to more or less andything you want to talk about. He has only been tattooing me for a few minutes now, and I am totally pussing out. I hate the first few minutes of tattooing. When your body is saying "Fuck no you are not doing this shit to me again". It is such an annoying pain. Once I am in the grove after probably the first 10-15 minutes, I can sit there all damn night. The only thing that usually stops me is the artist getting tired or we finish up what we wanted to work on. Very rarely will I puss out first.

The new piece I am working on is a japanese arm piece. I will post some pics later. As of tonight, I am done with my second sit of it. I think I still have 2-3 more sits before it is finished. I really want to finish it soon, but I want to be able to swim and have fun for the rest of the summer without having this silly pain.

Scott owns and works at Mercury Tattoo Check out his portfolio and Brian Donovan's who also works there.

HRC vs gamers

On the day that one of the World's largest cities has another terrorist attack, Hillary Rodham Clinton is more concerned with Grand Theft Auto San Andres a damn video game. She and other politicians are bowing dow to the knee jerk reaction of legions of soccer moms, who bought a game that is labeled "Mature" for their children. To buy this game you have to be at least 17. When these ratings are made, they are made so people do not buy them that will be affected by them. They are not saying that you can not buy it and give it to your kid without ever viewing what it is. This game is violent and sexual, and kids that are not prepared for this game should not be playing it, that is why the industry will not sell it to them! But, Hillary and others had to present the fact that you could download a modification to unlock some code to show nudity. By making them change the rating, they made the game unavailable to those under 18. They changed the age you could buy it by one full year! But by doing that, it effectivly took it off the market in many different stores like Best Buy, Blockbuster, Sprall-Mart, ec. These places choose not to sell "adult" material (but choose to sell guns!), which is going to kill Rock Star games until they could get a non-"adult" game out on the market.

The following is the ratings from the Entertainment Software Rating Board

Well another day that London is attacked by "suicide" bombers. Luckily this time they failed, or their materials expired or whatever, but regardless, most people were safe and uninjured. I just feer for how vulnerable we are all at when the country and city that should be the most alert gets hit twice in the same number of weeks. Is there something that needs to be done? Yes! Will the US, UK, or UN have the balls to do it? Nope! We need to investigate these people deeeper, and cut off all of their suppliers of goods, training, and money. Till we stop that or find out who is funding them, we could get used to living a life of disaster reports every week or two.

I feel that some of the reasons behind the fact that we do not go after these people harder is for the fear of what we will actually find. It is almost like when you see a termite coming out of the closet, you know the wall behind there is totally eaten away. I think that is what we would find if we started to pull away some of the layers of these organizations. We would find that they are being funded by wesstern politicians, corporations, and religious institutions. It may not be a direct route, but I feel that in these days we have to look at who we are giving our money to and what they are going to use it for or give it to. Even people in well meaing Mosques ended up funding terrorists in one way or another.

On another political note, I can not wait till this...

...Is true

That guy needs to go to jail. Our system is dirty, and has become worse under GW, but come on. This guy broke the law, and is going to end up getting away with it

September 20, 1977-July 30, 2005

Just one thing I was not looking forward to writing. A year ago today, my friend Hans Nothen passed away suddenly at a BANE show from an enlarged heart, which is fitting for a guy who loved everyone. It still hurts quite a bit, and I get tearey eyed everytime I think of him, then I just smile and laugh, because if he were here, that is what I would be doing with him. In the past year, I have tried to live a better life...one that is almost in his likeness. He was such a great friend, and would help anyone he saw ever. click here for proof. He had a huge "family" in the Hardcore Scene as well as the Tuner scene. Here is a link to a one of the many tributes to him.

Today I had to work at Randall's Island, NYC at a Dave Mathews Bandshow. It was as warm as fresh milk, and I was not 100% prepared to deal with the heat and dust.

A bunch of our friends were working this show so it was a good time. We more or less just hung around and looked at/talked to girls while getting paid for it. I had to guard the Warehouse Prefered Seating area. More or less an are where super fans got to sit, because they bought their tickets early on the warehouse website. This area was nothing more than a fenced off pin that they got to come into earlier than everyone else.

They had to have special tickets to get into this area. I had to stand at this spot all day with three other guys (oliver, Richie, and Matt). and make sure only the people with the right wrist bands got into the special area. Kid of annoying, but not all that bad.

We spent a great part of the day talking to a group of people that set up camp directly infront of us. We just bullshitted with them, and asked them to get stuff for us. We had a good time talking to them all day. Would I have talked to them if there was nothing else to do? Probably not.

Tons of people were trying to get into the area that we were watching. As the day got closer and closer to DMB, more and more people would come up to try to get in. One girl walked up who was a dead ringer for my friend/ex of 5 years. I could not believe how much she looked and acted like her. They have to be related. She kept me entertained for a little while for the day.

DMB finally went on and we had three hours of them. They were not too bad. Pretty impressive live show, plus it cooled down so much when it got dark.

There were a lot of dumb kids at this show. I had to throw a bunch out or talk to a bunch. Just for stupid things. I dont understand how you could pay so much money to go to a show, and end up getting kicked out. It blows my mind.

The night ended with us walking out of there exhausted and hungry. It was amazing to see how much trash was on the ground. I know there were 30,000+ people there, but there was a lot of crap left behind. I drove back to our hotel and of course got kind of lost on the way, but I found it, and my two roomates for the night, Ralph and Garrett, trying to get into the room. I tried to find some eats at the gas station down the street, then went to bed to the sweet sound of Ralph snoring.

Second day of DMB

Second day of the DMB. I woke up really early and decided to go and get some drinks and food for the day in the sun. After yesterday, I did not want to have to starve and be thirsty all damn day. I would have gone crazy. I woke up and had a shower without waking Ralph and Garett, then headed up the street to the grocery store. I picked up a bunch of cliff bars,a 8 pack of gatoraid, a jar of Peanut Butter, and a loaf of bread. I made breakfast for me and the boys, filled my camelback full of ice, and then headed out to the show.

I HATE driving in New York City. We had to go from Fort Lee over the George Washington Bridge, onto the Harlem Expressway then to the Tri-Borough bridge which will drop us on Randall's island. Do you think we made that? Of course not. We took the GWB and then ended up on some random street that dropped us off way up on Broadway. We asked for directions and it put us back on teh right road again. Then we got on the Tri Borough and thought that we were right there. Boy were we wrong! Ralph noticed that we were at a toll plaza that said No Access to Randall's island. We had to loop around and get back to the island. We got to the security meeting early and we wouldn't have missed anything anyway, since we were doing the same thing we did the day before.

We took our post and then just thought shit...we have to do this all damn day and night. We were really well prepared for the day by having a good amount of ice and water and sunblock, and a hat. All essential to the war effort.

they let the fools in and of course we had people asking us questions about the place they could go and not go. Unfortunatly, we had some people from Quebec sit infront of us. They were not all that bad, but they def were not as much fun as the people we had the day before. Really the highlight of the day was a girl paying me $20 to take her to the bathroom, and another guy offering me WWE tickets for letting him up front. I usually dont bend for anyone, but I was just so fried, I let all kinds of shit go down. The day went by really fast, and Black Eyed Peas were way better than the Bare Naked Ladies from the day before.

The day was over, and we wanted to hit the road. We got out of the city pretty quickly and were on the other side of the GWB. It was not too long after that when Ralph had to drop a deuce. He and Garett decided to make as much noise as they coudl in the bathroom and proceeded to freak out everyone in the bathroom at Midnight on the NJ TPK.

We were on the other side of the rest stop and my passangers were ass out. I was so damn tired and falling asleep at the wheel. I finally had to pull over and take a quick nap. After the nap, it was not all that bad, but without it, I would have killed us all. I finally got home at like 2:45 and not to sleep till 3:30am.

SUCKS!

stupid

I found out today that a school I would love to teach at is hiring for a position I am qualified for. I doubt I will get hired but it was worth a shot at trying.

I didn't do too much at work all day. I just sort of sat around and got paid for it. Seems like that is a pattern this summer! I am not complaining since I need the money, but I would much prefer to be out camping or riding my bike all day. Maybe next summer.

Today just from sitting around and surfing the web looking at recounts of what went down at posi numbers fest and how people reacted, I think I need to take a break from the "scene" I am sick of the bullshit that goes along with going to shows. I do not want to have to see who is who, and what new ink did they get, and how their hair looks, or how tight their black tee shirt fits their gut.

It seems that people, at least on boards, seem to think that the fight and other shit that went on at posi numbers is just normal. The amount of joking about the fight, and talking about merch and other babble just showed me why this fight was aloud to happen, and why this type of behavior will continue for a long ass time. If people are more concerned with merch and making jokes, they are not protecting and preserving their scene, and soon enough there will be no small promoters, and the shows will dwindle down, or you will pay huge sums to see a band you like. If you stand around and watch people ruin shows, you are making it easier and easier for the scene as we know it cease to exist.

When the cost of hiring more security, or the frustration of working for a full year and then seeing it all go away when some crew or certain individuals have beef with one guy and have to take it out on the whole place totally settle in, people like Bobb Mac and Sean Agnew and others end up dropping out of setting up shows. Which makes it easier for Clear Channel or someone else to begin sponsoring shows

People need to stand up to the bullshit. It is simple as that. How could a crowd of a few hundred people just stand around as someone hit a member of a band that just finished playing, and a mother of three who has supported the scene since it's infancy for trying to stop a fight from escalating? She was not defending one person, she was defending us all. She is like the rest of us who is trying to stop the bullshit at shows, and what does she get? Punched in the face by someone who gets off on terrorizing people. What does almost everyone else in the building besides her husband do? They just stood there and did nothing. A few did try to help the situation, but the hoards of "scene supporters" stood around and some ran for the door or the merch tables. It is fucking sick to think that this is where we have come to.

I remember the days of hardly any fights at shows. Everyone was having a good time, and if there was a fight, it was over quickly and settled. I also remember the days of people banding together to fight back against those who tried to ruin it. You have to fight back against this shit or it will never stop and the whole scene will be ruined (in my opinion we have reached this point, but for those of you who still believe this is for you). If you see this shit going on, don't just stand there, because someday it is going to end up being you. If you are attacked, file charges with the police. Enough people know each other that you could get names and addresses of people. I think show promoters should have adequate security for shows that they know there may be a problem with. I do not know of the security at Posi #s, but obviously it was not up to par with the amount of people that were there, and the types of kids they were going to encounter. I do have to say that Sean Agnew of R5
R5does a good job with that. He has consistently hired people that can get the job done, and make people feel safe at his shows, and the violence at his shows has dropped dramatically.

Another thing, don't talk shit for no reason to people on the Internet or behind their back. You do not know how many shows have been ruined by "talking shit" on the Internet or wherever. I wish it were just more positive and we had goals for ourselves and the scene, not just how cool our new "traditional" tattoo looks with our shitty black haircut.

Fuck It I Quit

I got to go to my apartment today! That is something new, since except for a few hours of sleeping Monday morning, I was away from my house since Monday the 25th.

It was great to see jess, and sleep in my own bed for the night. I have to start to get comfertable doing that all over again, since I will be there every night starting soon.

Earlier today my friend Robin, who I wrote about eariler in the week, sent me an email or bullitan that had the lyrics to a new BANE song that made refernce to our decieced friend Hans Nothin. The song really struck home with me, since we lost Hans about a year ago at a Bane show in Wilkes Barre. He was one of the best guys ever, and everyone loved him. His death still has quite an effect on me, as he was one member of the family of Wilkes Barre/Scranton hardcore kids that I grew up with. (The song is posted above if you want to hear it.)

I went out and got the record at Repo, just so I could have it to remember him by.

I finally got to bed at a normal time!

put my car in the shop today so I get get rid of this awful squeaking noise that I have coming from my routers. I needed new ones, but luckily I had the room on my firestone card so that I could get them fixed without laying out a bunch of cash. That card is SO worth having! $450 later, my car is fixed, and i do not have to deal with the noise anymore.
I got paid today. Thank god. I love pay day like everyone else, but shit I need this money. I looked at my paystub today and realized that I will make about 10 grand less in this job than I will in my next job. I am excited as shit to get into school and start getting some paychecks. Soon enough.
After work on this 100 degree day, I hung out for a little while at the Vadino's house while I was waiting for it to get a bit cooler. I just sat around more or less till about 7, when I went out to go mountain bike riding. I got to the trials, and my tire was more or less flat, so I pumpped it up again...flat again. What the hell? Can I ever have a good mountain bike ride? I decided to cut my losses and head back to their house to cool down and relax
Back at their house, I was able to remount the tube, and as I write this, it seems to be holding air pretty well. That is good, since I am going on a ride with Brian tomorrow after work. That is if it does not rain too much during the day. I really dont feel like getting struck by lightning!
After dealing with the tire, and spending sometime online, I made a great dip into their pool. It was so nice, and night swimming is the best!

Why complain when it is cold when you can just break your computer?

There is not really anything we can do about it, but put on the proper gear and head out in it. Sure it sucks, but we have months to save up to buy some good stuff so we dont have to cry for two months of the year when it is really cold. Every day that I freeze, I just think of how great it is going to be when the trails are coming back to life with quick sure footed squirls, new flowers, and wheezing lungs that did not work out enough over the winter.

Over the long weekend (gotta love being a school teacher and getting the day off!)i did a whole bunch of stuff. I tried to install a new harddrive on my computer, and messed it up so bad that the thing does not turn on anymore! I guess It is good that I have a new laptop coming this week! I have to bring it to Jess;s uncle and maybe he can fix it. After I did that to my computer I went to lunch with Pete at El Asteca for a while. When I got home from there Jess and I went shopping for christmas till like 8pm, and just really hung around the house the rest of the night.
On saturday I went to work with jess's dad at Pharm Ops Inc.. Saturday night was spent sitting around and sort of waiting for colleen to get home and just chilling out.
Sunday we hit up the Snyder dinner with pete and colleen (the Mc-Dudeks). This place rules, since you can watch a mob meeting, a football game, and a guy drinking martinis by himself in the corner. Just an amazing site.
We went to BJs aftewards and stocked up on tons of stuff. I think I have like a few month's worth of food. That place is just crazy. I think it will be well worth the split $30 fee for 15 months. The rest of the weekend was spent just relaxing and dealing with the dog.

It has been so long since I wrote for this thing, I guess I should up date you. No one REALLY reads this anyway! I guess I can give you a list of what has been going on with me.

1. I got engaged to my love
2. Got a dog (both pitured above)
3. Started teaching again
4. Been back to Colorado

I Guess that is really it.

almost 4 months.

Wow. I have not updated this thing in forever now. I need to get back on the ball with that. Looking at Joe Foley's page made me really want to work on this again. Here we go!