The 2nd part of beanfest was drinking. Above, you see me carrying singalong around. Apparently she doesn't usually drink.
This just preceeded singalong's interpretative dance of the life of a tree. I played the role of the sun. Meanwhile, she shouted at rhubarb snack: come on! you have the be the water! without the water, I can't germinate! Then we had pie.
Maybe you had to be there.
Song of the Day: White Stripes - Apple Blossom
Nasty nizzle remarked to me the other day that the toughtest time to blog is when you've got the most going on. When life is less interesting, you're far more likely to post. I'm like that about all of my creative outlets... I have to slow down from living to reflect and create. That's why I haven't worked on making my satchel-bag for a few months, that's why I haven't written much new material for about a month, and that's why my found book hasn't changed in a while.
But it's been exciting. Today (which, as the date above claims, is Saturday, and we all know that computers can't lie, so it has to be true), I went climbing outdoors for the first time. It kicked ass. I'm looking forward to many more trips.
And even better, the climbing was followed by a night of drunken debauchery, and more old men getting stoned that I have ever seen. There was pie, thigh whiskey, something that tasted like chartreuse, and beans. Maybe I'll post another picture of all that. Or maybe I won't. I'm a pretty unmotivated photobloggist right now, but I'm certainly not unmotivated at action-living.
Song of the Day: Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros - Johnny Appleseed
I gave my first "general" science talk today, to the Arizona Astronomy Board. These are rich people (lawyers, CEOs, etc) who like to give money to astronomy. And they were lucky enough to experience a super-special mustache talk. Above is the "And also, it's awesome to go to Chile" slide from my presentation.
I was pretty pleased with how it went... several people told me they think I'll make a good teacher, and a few even asked me questions afterwards. One (mustached) lawyer-guy in particular was so happy with my explanation of redshift and the expansions of the universe that he gave me a hug. Yep... that was mustache love, right there.
Song of the Day: Hot Hot Heat - Pickin' It Up
*Title is sung to the tune of Jungle Love by Morris Day & The Time
Electric 6. In my opinion, it was a better show than last year's. Maybe that's because I had a mustache. Also 7 beers. What I learned:
1. The bastard child of Liza Monelli & John Glenn learned to play the drums in the Meteor Crater.
2. To connect politically, it is best to pretend to be a 73-year-old man on his 3rd wife, while the audience pretends to be blackhawk helicopters.
Unfortunately, a poor girl never got to fully experience the schemer mustache ride. And I was all prepped as wingman: yo, this is my boy lightning... he hardly ever strikes twice, but maybe you'll get lucky.
There were many fake mustaches also present at the show. While I appreciate that this is better than nothing... it's really just not the same.
Song of the Day: Bad Religion - Stranger than Fiction
Thankfully, only a few of the kids avoided me while I belayed this morning at the kid's climb. Then I went hiking with E, up to Romero Pools for the first time.
Song of the Day: Arcade Fire - (Antichrist Television Blues)
All through Mustache Night #2, E kept getting compliments on her mustache. When we left the Surly Wench, a couple of street musicians even started an improv song about it (that girl's got a mustache... and khaki pants... yeah she's got a mustache... and khaki pants...). I was feeling jealous until some girl yelled out of a car window as we biked home: nice mustache! your boyfriend is totally hot!
Witness the power of the mustache.
Song of the Day: Son Volt - The Search
The mustaches are among us.
3-balls (right) definitely takes the award for best mustache. Meanwhile, I took a lot of shit because I haven't shaved yet...
schemer: that's it, we're gonna hold you down and shave you... [surly], will you help hold him down?
surly: only if I get to rape him.
Welcome to the mustache. (Thankfully, I was neither forcibly shaved nor raped.) The hater joined me in the ranks of the still-bearded: I will not shave a lesser president from the mt rushmore that is my facial hair...
On the one hand, I want to badly to have a mustache too. On the other hand, I sure am glad that I don't look like they do (yet).
Song of the Day: Bon Jovi - Dead or Alive
[photo from the archives]
I got a wedding invitation from seltzer & the bringer of rain (yep, she's that badass) in the mail today. Clearly marked on the invitation was "[Action] and Guest." I think that's pretty swell... I've been the excluded date from one wedding, and I've tip-toed to request bring a girlfriend outside the circle of friends to another, and it's a lot better when the people getting married are generous enough to do the blanket invite. Now I just have to finish the storybook I promised I'd write for them.
And meanwhile... Son Volt rocks. Life is good. And I'm still a Boy Scout (E: yeah...).
Song of the Day: Belle & Sebastian - The Blues are Still Blue
It's true: despite my flaming liberalism, I own guns. From left to right, a 30-06, a .22, and a 16-gauge pump-action shotgun. Besides their obvious uses during zombie attacks, they're all for hunting. A few days ago I was drawn in the lottery to hunt elk here in Arizona. I'll be using my flintlock rifle, the only gun I own that isn't in my gun safe (it's at my parents' house in PA). The hunt isn't until next November, but already my dad is making big plans on coming out and going along to watch me hunt. (I should also note that most of the father-son bonding between my dad and I happened on hunting trips.)
Handguns, on the other hand, terrify me. Whenever I see a cop walking around with a holstered handgun, I tense up. I guess it's because my rifles and shotgun were designed for killing animals, whereas handguns were designed for killing people.
Song of the Day: R.E.M. - Lightnin' Hopkins
Before last Tuesday, it had been a year and a half since I had done any climbing. I used to go with my little brother (with the Big Brother / Big Sister program), but when that ended (i.e., he stood me up and stopped returning my calls), I quit going. But now E has gotten me excited about it again. I'm thankful. It seems to be the right kind of intensely self-competitive sport for me, and I'm driven to get better. I also keep running into folks that I know at the gym too, like scojo and deuce and OJ and of course, #1 & smoove.
E keeps talking to me about some open rock climbing soon...
Song of the Day: Jack Johnson - Bubble Toes
The schemer and I have made a deal: whenever the yankees win and the red sox lose (e.g., today), he has to buy me a beer. Whenver the yankees lose and the red sox win, I buy him a beer. He made me promise to let him drink from my mug when I buy, so our consumption remains perfectly even. So, either the red sox win, and I'm happy, or I get bought a beer, and I'm happy. Flawless.
After the gators trounced the buckeyes (or, like we used to call them at penn state, the fuckeyes... god we were clever), la grizzle was vainly trying to restore balance and bring nop.bot (from florida, and a uf alumnus) back down. dude, it's not going to work, I insisted, that mustache is like a forcefield. How can you feel insults when you're sporting such a fine mustache?
Song of the Day: Leadbelly - There's a Man Going Round Takin' Names
The email I sent to my team today:
yo Hammer Time!
for those of you who weren't there today, it was an awesome team effort in our victory by forfeit... keep studying up on your MC Hammer dances for next week: we'll play pick-up again on Saturday with another official game on Sunday.
The grad student softball league has been really poorly organized: today was the first day that there was enough people on 2 teams for an official game (sadly, those were the other two teams playing at our time slot... our scheduled opponent had only one player). The most we got to do is what you see above, as M and I warm up on grounders. But at least we're still having fun playing pick-up on Saturdays.
Song of the Day: Seven Nations - Factory Song
