NEW Circa Survive...

I'm listening to the new album on their myspace (www.myspace.com/circasurvive) and its pretty fucking amazing. I'll be picking it up when it drops tomorrow. I highly suggest everyone gives it a listen...

DRUNKEN OBSERVATIONS made the morning after...

I was going to make some observations last night while I was still drunk but I was still pretty salty about the clean up. So I'll give it a whirl now that I've finally finished cleaning up everything.

1) My friends never eat enough of the food I put out at parties.
2) I've come to the conclusion that I lack common sense when it comes to what foods need to be wrapped up and saved at the end of the night.
3) There always seems to be way too much drama whenever I throw a party at my house. Someone always ends up leaving early followed by someone who's had too much to drink trying to drive after them.
4) People who are married / are in a relationship always seem to be better party guests in that they bring elaborate food dishes. Us single people have no common sense when it comes to bringing stuff to parties, although mad props to Troy for bringing an apple pie.
5) If beer pong or flip cup end up happening at a party, then the clean up is ten times worse than it originally would have been.
6) Rain can be a real damper on a cookout...
7) Parties are only successful if everyone has a good time and it seemed like everyone did so... SUCCESS


...finally mad props also goes to Toto for being able to incorporate both Sarangetti and Mt. Kilimanjaro into the lyrics of "Africa"

666 the Number of the Beast??

This happened a year ago, but I was reminded of it by the same guy who said it to me then. A guy that I work with saw my skull and crossbones tattoo and the first thing out of his mouth was not "hey nice tattoo" or "wow you have a tattoo". The first thing that could come to his head was, "Do you worship the devil?" Now granted I had had a conversation with him earlier about how I had used to be in a hardcore band (I also defined what hardcore music was), but is it right for him to assume I "worship the devil" if all that I have is a skull and crossbones tattoo? Am I that menacing looking? Maybe I need to cut back on my blood lattes...

Revamping of The Life & times of Dan?

Alright so I was asking for constructive criticism of my blog here, and a friend of mine suggested I stop complaining about my life / job, quit said job, and just drink all of the time and have a continuous "Drunken Observations" section. While I would love to quit my job and just drink all the time, the issue of where will I get money to pay the bills still lingers. So.... any financial backers / sugar mommas?

FUCKING SKINHEADS

So I forgot to mention that there were a couple of skinheads at the MXPX show. I could tell from their obvious bald heads and how they had no right to be in a punk rawk pit. What also pissed me off, aside from their obvious beliefs, was they turned their backs on the band whenever they played one of their newer songs. Fucking skinheads. Go back to your neo-Nazi bullshit and stay away from any punk show I go to. I hate that skinheads and neo-Nazis have been able to associate themselves with punk rock and it's unfortunate that these fuckers have latched on to MXPX.

Oh and something that I found funny last night was when I pulled into the parking lot I usually park in and the guy came up to my car window to take my money and I had MXPX's cover of The Ramone's "KKK Took my Baby Away" blasting. He kind of gave me a look when he heard the chorus of the song. That's comedy gold...

My weekend was pretty weak... how was yours?

So this was the weekend from hell with me working every day this week and it just seemed to get worse as the weekend went on.

Thursday night started off pretty good out celebrating Sean's graduation out at magee's and durty nelly's. Problem was that I didn't go to bed until really late and then I had to get up early to spend five hours at a bar while I had a nice hangover going. Can't beat that. And after work, my issues with Riggins Gas station began to develop. On the way back from the Hometown B-Cast, we filled up the MGK van with gas at Riggins, where Greater Media has an account. This was at about 8PM and they don't usually close until about 9. Once we got back to the station, I decided to take the MGK Jeep home because it would save me some time / gas by having everything packed and ready to go for my event Saturday morning. Because we had to drive out to fucking Hershey on Saturday morning, I needed to gas up the Jeep and to save time I was going to do it Friday night. But when I got to the gas station at 8:30ish, the fucking guy that worked there came out to tell me they were closed because they were out of gas. Now I knew the guy was just closing up to get out of there early so I decided to call his bluff and inform him that we had filled up the MGK van no more than 30 mins before that and there was no way they ran out of gas between then and now. I had caught the guy in his lie and now all he could say was, "I know, I know"... fucking asshole. So I just drove away and just headed home to hang out at TJ's for board game night, which I usually dominate (Cranium, Scene It, etc.)... Well that night I was off my game because I was still a tad hungover so I didn't win anything.... fucking beat.

Saturday brought a new day, but the same old shit. I had to drive an hour and half up to Hershey for a fucking event at a car show. And I had to get up early on top of that. Stopped at Riggins first, and surprise surprise, they had gas. So we drove the hour and half to Hershey and when we got there, it ended up that the organizers had thought we were coming Sunday and not Saturday so they had no space for us. So they set us up in the fucking parking lot away from the exposure we would have gotten if we had been in the car show. And on top of that, I had to pay $8 for parking. And now it's going to take a couple of months to get reimbursed by the radio station. So the event went off without a problem, but then we had to deal with the long car ride home. By the time I got home, I was pretty beat and with the spector of having to wake up at 5:30AM on Sunday for two more events, I made the decision to stay in Saturday night. I instead hit up Best Buy and picked up two underappreciated comedies on DVD (High School High & Baseketball) and I finally gave in and bought the new Bayside which was fucking amazing. I've been listening to it nonstop and it's catchy as hell. Highly Recommended. Oh and my day was dampened even more when I got my GRE scores in the mail and I had score on average in each of sections of the test. Keeping in mind that I'm pretty full of myself and arrogant when it comes to my intelligence, that really put me in a bad mood. I was definitely bummed.

So because I actually went to bed early Saturday night, getting up at 5:30AM wasn't as bad as it has previously been and the two events I worked were successes. Marissa and I first worked a Bike Ride to benefit Diabetes research at CB South high school with Andre Gardner (who rode 15 miles) and we followed that up by hanging in the Willow Grove Mall for a couple of hours and then went to our next event at Carber's Chocolate & Smoochie's Water Ice with Ray Koob. Because I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to common sense, I didn't bother to put any sunscreen on and I successfully burnt myself pretty good. And then there came my next battle with the fucking Riggins. We needed to fill up the Explorer on the way back from our events so I stopped at Riggins at about 3:30 in the afternoon. We pull up and we make eye contact with the guy that works events for WJJZ, our sister station. It looks like he just filled up. So I go the pump where he just was and wait for the Riggins guy to swipe the Greater Media credit card so I can fill up, only there isn't anyone in their little office. So I go up to the glass and start pounding on it, hoping that the guy is just in the bathroom and he'll come out to help a brother out. But, NOOOO, nobody's in their little office so I once again got screwed by fucking Riggins because I wasn't able to fill up the gas because nobody was there working during regular hours. GOD I HATE FUCKING RIGGINS.

So with the day taking a turn for the worst after the Riggins fiasco, I still had one saving grace in that I was going to see MXPX, my favorite band, at the Troc. The doors opened at 5 but I could give two shits about seeing the opening bands so I decided to arrive fashionably late at about 7:30. When I parked in my usual lot though, I noticed there were only about 5 cars in the whole lot. Usually on a concert night, this lot would be full, but 5 cars?! So I immediately made the assumption that show had been cancelled without me knowing. So I walked to the Troc and luckily the show was still on, but when I walked into the staging area, it became all clear to me. The Troc was only one quarters of the way full. MXPX can no longer draw the crowds that they used to draw back when I was seeing them in high school. I really felt bad for them. But they still put on an awesome show and I was able to sing along and get into all of their songs with the energetic crowd that was there. They ended up playing about an hour set, but I feel like they could have played a lot longer, since one of the opening bands didn't even show up to play. I think what hindered them from playing more songs was that they had a replacement drummer for Yuri, who was with his wive and new child, and the drummer didn't know all of the MXPX catalog. So I was a little disappointed yet again.

So this weekend was pretty beat. Hopefully next weekend will be the complete opposite. Otherwise I'll have more complaining to do...

DRUNKEN OBSERVATIONS...

I need to be more assertive when I see a girl at the bar that I like... No need to be bashful you fuck.... just be straight forward

NEW Horse the Band

Horse the Band just posted "Murder" a new song off of their upcoming album

Check it out: www.myspace.com/horsetheband

it's fucking sick...

The Primary Election... do I need to spell it out to you?

So I was doing my civic duty yesterday and voting in the Primary election at the local boro hall and the bastards running the polling machines set me up as if I were Republican without even asking. So I stepped out of the curtain, and explained to the guy that I was a Democrat and needed the voting machine adjusted. The guy at the voting machine next to me then stepped out from behind the curtain and asked whether he had to vote Republican or Democrat. He didn't want to settle on one or the other because he informed us that he usually votes for whoever he thinks is popular at the time on the traditional Election Day. Well why the fuck are you out voting in the Primary Election if a) you have no party affiliation and b) you're an uneducated twit who doesn't even know the purpose of the Primary Election. I already had a general understanding that the majority of people in my hometown were not the sharpest knives in the drawer and this guy was a prime example. He also exited the voting booth saying how excited he was that this was the first time he had gotten to vote for someone he had gone to high school with. Apparently, sir, you may have went to high school with that girl, but you certainly didn't graduate with her...

DRUNK OBSERVATIONS...

alright so after partaking in some alcohol imbibing at marty magees, me, sean, and bri decided to take a walk down to wawa and get some refreshments. so I made a couple of observations:

1) Refreshments to one person is a whole fucking meal to Finnegan.
2) Mac & Chee is the greatest invention by mankind
3) Adjusting your belt in public can scare off little girls who are walking home to their worried parents.
4) Drunk dialing isn't successful if the other person doesn't pick up
5) You don't realize how sore/tired you are until you start to sober up

Assimilation in NASCAR...

Alright so while I was at the gym today I got stuck on a stationary bike in front of the television that ESPN2 on, which happened to have NASCAR NOW - one of my favorite shows (I HAAAATTEEE NASCAR)... Now let me preface this by saying that by no means am I racist or bigoted or anything like that, I'm just fully aware of racial implications in our wonderful country. So the host of NASCAR NOW was African-American and then the out-in-the-field correspondant was fucking Brad Daugherty, former Cleveland Cavaliers basketball player and also former ESPN basketball analyst. Now I don't know if Brad's a big NASCAR fan or if he's just in the dog house with ESPN and got relegated to working the NASCAR show, but I was thinking to myself, what does the core audience of this show (white, bigoted Southerners) react to this? Is this ESPN's attempt to try to get more African-Americans to watch NASCAR? I'm just trying to analyze this as if we were in one of my communication theory classes back in college. Any opinions?

The Bamboozle... I missed thee

Alright so I'm reading reviews of The Bamboozle Music Festival that happened up in East Rutherford, New Jersey, this past weekend, and I'm starting feel like I made a mistake in not going. I was originally turned off by the idea of going because A)I've endured multiple day musical festivals in the past (Skate & Surf Fest '03) that can take a toll on the body. B) the closer for Saturday night was My Chemical Romance and the closer for Sunday night was Linkin Park... fucking Linkin Park... unbelievable and finally C) I'm starting to become that creepy old guy that still goes to shows and can't let go of the scene while the median age of concert crowds these days is 16 or 17. And don't worry I'm not letting up on going to shows just yet! But yeah, I was fucking screwed from the get-go anyway because I had to take the GREs on Saturday and Cinco de Mayo happened to be that day as well, so there was no way I was making it there. But from the reviews here are a few things I missed:

- Thursday still puts on an amazing live show, regardless of the fact that their last album, "A City by the Light Divided" blew chunks. Here's to hoping they regain their musical composure for their next album.
- Bayside played a good mix of older and newer tunes during their set
- Dustin Kensrue and Teppei Teranishi of Thrice played an accoustic set that included a cover of "The Ballad of John and Yoko" - I love when the bands of today can throw out an homage to those who have come before them, especially a band like The Beatles
- Paramore played and I want to see them before they make it big because they're lead singer is hott and I hear she's got pretty good stage presence
- The Early November played their official last show ever
- The Starting Line debuted the title track from their new album that's coming out on July 30 (yes I'm still a TSL fan)
- Motion City Soundtrack played a couple of new songs from their upcoming album (one of the most anticipated albums of '07)
- I still have yet to see Circa Survive and I would have liked to see them live before the new album drops

Apparently one thing that I didn't miss out on Brand New's set. A lot of people said that they played a lackluster set and even played the same song twice because it was Jesse's favorite song. And they closed with Seventy Times 7 (my favorite Brand New song) but Jesse didn't even sing for most of the song. I've been turned off of Brand New live ever since the Dashboard / MXPX / Brand New two show debacle a couple of years back when both Brand New and MXPX played the exact same set on both days! (at the time MXPX had seven albums of material to work with but they decided to play songs from their newest and worst album at that time). So I didn't miss out on that.

But as a whole, it seems like I missed a really good time.

My Thoughts on the GREs...

Alright so it's taken me a couple of days to gather up my thoughts on the GREs and now I think I'm ready to share them. First off, I think it's complete bullshit that so many people bug out about preparing for the GREs (studying, cramming, etc.). About a month before I was going to take them, I started studying hardcore for them and then I started worrying about them to the point that I was feeling some serious anxiety over it. Once I got to that point, I just said fuck it. My madre put it into perspective by saying, "Look at how many stupid people have their Masters degrees. How do you think they did on the GREs?" That was when it all made sense and I decided to take it in stride. I studied a little bit for two days before I took them and made sure not to stress myself out about which wasn't a problem.

Then came TEST DAY. I got the GREs office complex and the fucking place was like Fort Knox. I wasn't allowed to bring anything into the testing area with me except my photo ID. I had brought a big bottle of water and a typical school bag filled with supplies and I could not bring any of it with me. And oh yeah my Driver's License was almost rejected because my hair was dyed black at the time that I got the picture taken and I guess with my goatee I look nothing like what I did two years ago. So once I got through that deterrent, I had to pose for a picture so that they had a face to go with my name on their computer system. And the whole testing area is wired with cameras, like a camera for each cubicle so it had a real prison feel to it. I was starting to worry that they might perform a full cavity search, but then they finally sent me to my test computer and I was able to get started.

The GRE website had said that it would take about 4 hours to complete the test, but it only took me 3. Like I had predicted, I bombed the Math section, did okay on the English section, and I'm pretty sure I nailed the Writing section. At the end, the computer flashed my Math and English scores but I had nothing to write them down on so I forgot them shortly. I should have the results in about two weeks though. Also on my way home from Conshohocken, where I took the test, I got caught behind a funeral procession of cars on the Blue Route. And as a result of me being irritated from having had to take the GREs, I found myself muttering things under my breath about the deceased. No hard feelings buddy, but I was just spent from that gay ass test.

Some words of encouragement for future GREs takers: Don't lose too much sleep over it. It's just a test and you can only make it worse by worrying about it. It's not as bad as everyone seems to make it out to be.

Did Entourage jump the shark?

Does it seem like the storylines in Entourage have been going around in circles? They've been trying to get Medeian (not sure how to spell it) for almost two seasons now, they dropped Ari, picked up Amanda as an agent, dropped Amanda and as of now they're back with Ari and still haven't done a movie in forever. I find that the only reason that I'm watching anymore is to see what celebrities make guest appearances and to see what girl Vince is banging this week...

What a Great / Bad night of pro sports on TV

All of the sporting events on tv tonight have been highly entertaining tonight: some good. some bad.

First the good. Did anyone catch the Golden State / Dallas basketball game? How unbelieveable are the Warriors? I was pumped up the whole time I was watching the game and they are all high energy. I love how in your face Baron Davis and Steven Jackson can be. Baron Davis got into a confrontation with Austin Croshere at one point and I was waiting for Jackson to step in and sucker punch Croshere in the face old school style. But cooler heads prevailed unfortunately. And the Golden State crowd is amazing. I felt like I was watching a college basketball game at Cameron Indoor Arena with the Cameron Crazies. I don't think anyone in the crowd sat down the entire second half of the game. I can't wait to see who they'll be playing next. I would have preferred to see them take on the Phoenix Suns but apparently they're only able to play the winner of Utah-Houston so I'm banking on Houston taking Game 7 of that series so we can see Yao and Tracey McGrady try to take on this under-sized energetic team. One last thing I've noticed is that there seems to be one or two former Sixers scrubs on playoff teams. I can remember when Matt Barnes of Golden State and Anthony Parker of Toronto were just nobodies on the Sixers bench, usually only coming into games for clean up duties. Now they're starters on playoff teams?! Looks like Billy King might be dropping the ball with his player evaluations.

When I wasn't watching the basketball game, I had the Canucks-Ducks game on. It was yet another low scoring affair but it went to overtime and Roberto Luongo (my NHL mvp) was standing on his head making unbelievable saves and keeping the Canucks in the game. Altogether, I think Luongo had like sixty-some saves while his counterpart Giguere had like thirty saves. And of course the wors part was that the Ducks won on a fluke goal in the second overtime, winning the series four games to one. Number one on Vancouver's offseason checklist should be to find a goal scorer and / or top line center to encourage more scoring. If they succeed in doing that, then Luongo will carry the team to the Stanley Cup finals next year.

And the third and final sporting event that caught my attention tonight was the Phillies game against San Francisco. The Phils jumped out to a 9-2 lead but alas Adam Eaton and that piece of shit bullpen have given up 5 runs thus far (I turned off the game in the 8th inning and don't really care what the outcome is at this point) and the Phils are playing the part of bumbling idiots as usual.

All in all, this was a great night to just be sitting around, watching sports. Although I could have gone for a beer to accompany these games but drinking alone has never been my thing.

Real Time with Bill Maher...

...is now one of my favorite shows. I never sat down and tried to watch an episode until tonight and I found it extremely entertaining and informative. Plus you can't beat him ripping conservatives a new asshole.