Last night, after getting off a phone call that totally boosted my mood from were it was yesterday after noon, I went out to the uptown for a beer and some din din. After I ordered a quesadilla I got a phone call from a friend I hadn’t heard from in a long time wondering if I wanted to go grab a beer. He ended up meeting me at the uptown. I was glad to hear from him. He’s in the same boat as me: single, no single friends. So it’s nice to have a new (read: lone) person to go grab drinks or do single kinda stuff with.

He spent a couple of years in Japan teaching english. When he went there he knew very little Japanese. Among the few words he knew were “drink” and “watermelon”. He told me that Japanese for drink is nomu (no-moo). I can’t remember what he said Japanese for watermelon was but it was something like suika. After he had been in Japan for only a couple of weeks he invited a fellow coworker over to his apartment for drinks. His fellow coworker knew very little english as well. My friend explained that they had communicated all night by means of exaggerated hand motions, laughing, dancing, games, and excessive drinking. He said the alcohol had allowed them to loosen up and speak to each other in a unique and unlikely ways. He later learned that the Japanese actually had a word, a combination of english and Japanese, for this type of communication. They called it nomunication. I though that was rather clever and have since added it to my vocabulary.

He also told me that 7-11 convenience stores have signs that read seben ereben.
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So I guess this is about all I do with this little thing I got here. This thing you’re reading. I tell you how I whooped it up on the weekend and then I spout off about my feelings. It’s getting tiresome. It’s ok, I know it is.

I’ve been… I don’t know, frustrated I guess. Work, relationships, friends, myself. Nothing I can’t deal with. It’s nothing big, I don’t think. Actually, that may be part of the problem, you know, that I’m not sure what the problem is. I’ve been slow, saturnine and glum. Not sad, or despondent or even close to depressed. Just sullen. She might have said it best when she said introspective. Or did I stuff that big word in her mouth. I’m not sure. It’s just a phase I’m sure. Something I’ll grow out of in the next few days. Probably by the weekend. I could use a long walk and a cigarette and a pile of leaves to kick.

Eh. I’ll take my leave now.
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I’ve always said there are few things as easily satisfying as exchanging smiles with someone you find mutually attractive.
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Had a tough day at work. Everything is ok now though. I stayed up late watching blind date last night (shut up) and right when each person was about to say what they thought about the their date, one of those “this is a test of the emergency broadcast system” things came on and beep beep beeped out everything the dates had to say. I wasn’t too happy about that. I also watched the new show on HBO called Carnivàle. It’s seems pretty cool. It has the midget from “Fire Walk With Me” in it.

This shadow puppetry is amazing (It’s a bit risque but then again so were the links from yesterday).

I had previously mentioned a strange Korean phenomenon. It seems it doesn’t take long for these things to travel over seas.
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“Hubs!!!!” about five of my friends from the living room cheer loudly. I love when I enter a room filled with a bunch of my friends for the first time in an evening, it seems they always stop what they are doing to give me a heroes welcome. I’ve mentioned to them that this always makes me smile. Maybe that’s why they do it. Or maybe it’s because they are around each other a lot more often than they are around me. Or maybe they just like the sound of my name passing between their lips. I like to think its cause they like me.

I went to the Freedom’s last night. They invited a bunch of people over to watch the Monday night football game.

Cool, glad you could make it over to watch a little football with us Hubs. Go Broncos!
Eh. You know I could give a shit about the Broncos, I don’t even know who their quarterback is.
It’s Jake Plummer Hubs.
Well, I just came over for the snacks, the beer, and the company.
Beer’s in the laundry room.

Things calmed down quick. I never know what to say when people ask me what’s new. I had a conversation with a girl I’d never met on the back porch. While we were watching the dogs run in circles we were able to make it last a total of five sentences and it was a struggle at that. I just don’t care sometimes. It makes me lonely. At the wedding I found myself walking up to the long, folding-table with the white tablecloth on it, and picking up the several of the plastic champagne glasses and drinking their contents in two swallows. Then walking out on to the porch, sitting down next two girls who were making out with each other in order to get attention from others. This annoyed me. I finished my cigarette before they were finished entertaining. Sometimes I’m too bored to enjoy myself.

The broncos were winning the game by more than 30 points before the end of the half. The game was a blowout, the natives were restless so the tequila and makers mark shots came out. Lots of the guys got really drunk cause they had girlfriends or wives that would drive them home. A few lived within walking distance. By the end of the game things had completely melted down. The conversation traveled from how to pickle tomatillos to donkey punching (which, surprisingly, many found humorous), and everywhere in between. We were screaming above a TV that was on way too loud, about politics, using gross generalizations that we really didn’t understand. Soon me and Beach just began singing random songs that we made up on the spot only cause we didn’t want to listen to them argue anymore. And we wanted to hear our own voices pass between or lips.

I left work early on Friday in order to get a new cell phone. The guy there tried to act like they were out of stock but since I called them on Thursday I knew the weren’t and began to throw a fit. He quickly shut me up, spent ten minutes diddling around in the back room, acting like he was looking for something and then finally getting me my new phone. Afterward, I spent some time at the office programming a few numbers into it. It’s cool though, better than my old phone anyway.

I had kickball again on Friday night. We lost, but we have so much fun that nobody really cares. I took a digger running into first because I freaked out about touching base, but everybody thought I was trying to slide. I couldn’t understand why anyone thought I would make a headfirst dive into first base but it must have looked pretty cool. Afterward a few of us headed out to Romes for a couple drinks. However, not many people showed at Romes because octoberfest was happening downtown. Afterwards, I met Leber and Mel at my local haunt for a couple of cocktails to celebrate Mels birthday. A bunch of Mels friends were there and bought me my drinks all night. I had so many beers and shots stacked in front of me I couldn’t even drink them all.

I woke up sort of early on Saturday and packed my stuff up to go into the mountains for the weekend. I would have slept in but I had an hour and a half drive up to the ranch for the Trout Families wedding and I wanted to make it in time for lunch. It’s a good thing I left when I did cause the trip took longer than is should have cause of traffic and bad drivers. My brother officiated the wedding and did a great job. He used some readings from Apache and Middle Eastern traditions. The vows were very unique and some of their friends got up and read poetry or played music they had written for them. It was a very untraditional wedding and was actually really refreshing after the number of white weddings I’ve been to this summer. The party afterwards was tons of fun. This crew is so tight knit and loving they are a just a blast to watch let alone party with all night. I was a bit wiped out from Friday and called it an earlier night though.

I slept in on Sunday and waited around for my mom to come meet me at the ranch. Afterwards I drove down to the springs to visit my grandma. I was so tired I accidentally fell asleep on the road twice. The first time was only for like two seconds: everything just went black and I woke up immediately afterward. The second time was for a few seconds longer and I had actually swerved into the other lane when I awoke. That scared the shit out of me and I was pretty awake for the rest of the drive. When I got to my grandmas I was able to sneak in a few naps while she fixed angelfood cake. She sent me home with a bunch of cake, strawberries and two whip cream canisters. On the drive home I called Jami who made sure I stayed awake even though she probably didn’t know that’s what she was doing.

After another long day at work yesterday, I went out to my local haunt for some dinner and a couple of drinks. I got the marinated portabella sandwich with artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers and melted provolone. It was delish. I also put down a couple of Stellas. Meanwhile the couple sitting next to me were both drunk, and all over each other. They were a newer couple cause she was playing the if-you-can-remember-my-middle-name-you-can-sleep-with-me-tonight game and ws having a lot of fun teasing him with it. When he got up to go to the bathroom she asked me for a french fry. I gave them all to her cause I was full. We had a nice little chat and introduced ourselves. When he got back she left to pee. I asked him if he had figured out her middle name yet. He said no but he knows it starts with ‘L’ and is one syllable. When she comes back he guesses Lisa (one syllable?). Realizing that he has lost the game he just begins guessing: Leanne, Linda, Lou, Liz, Lolla, and on and on. I listen for about fifteen more minutes while finishing another beer and then I turn to them and say, “Is it Lyn?”
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I fell asleep on the couch in front of the television last night. It was early when I nodded off. I hate it when I do that. The couch isn’t comfortable for sleeping, just for napping.

I’m surprised I’m holding up so well. Things aren’t going that great, particularly on the money front. I paid my rent 10 days late this month, that cost me $30. I have at least $60 in unpaid parking tickets. I haven’t talked to Jami in like 5 days. The stock market has been kicking my ass for the last two weeks, badly. I have a phone bill that is nearly as large as my rent. I lost my cell phone. I’ve spent the last two days working till 7:00 at night. But amazingly enough none of this shit is getting’ me down. I’ve felt better, mentally, this last month than I have for the past six. Shit is just rolling off my back. I must still be riding the Asheville high. Attitude is everything and it feels great.

I had my first kickball game on Friday. It was a blast, the most fun I’ve ever had on a baseball diamond. Playing beer in hand is encouraged and soooooo much easier when your not wearing a glove. We played a decent game even though we lost. More importantly it was a total time. Afterward we went to Rome’s where we proceeded to drink eight pitchers of beer for a mere $12! Yum. Afterward I went out to a couple of my old haunts for a night capper.

Saturday afternoon I finished off the last of my crawfish etoufee and headed out to the Blake Street Tavern to meet the boys for Jimbo’s bachelor party. We sat around for a few hours and I mostly drank cokes and bloody mary’s and ate tons of french fries while watching the CU football game. After that we headed over to the titty bars. It was your typical bachelor party/titty bar scene. The bachelor got fucked up, one of my buddies did the old boot and rally. The funniest thing I saw was a friend get the shit kicked out of him by some strippers boob. He was flying back in his chair a foot at a time. He was yelling for her to stop but she wouldn’t. No, it wasn’t sexy but it was damn funny.

On Sunday I slept in and then spent most of the afternoon running around looking for my cell phone that was somehow lost in Saturday nights festivities. It blows cause that’s my only phone. I don’t use a land line, though, I’m now thinking about getting one.

My brother and his girlfriend invited me over for dinner with them on Tuesday night. She knows that I love Cajun food and she’s from Louisiana so she made crawfish etoufee. I kept telling her that I’ve never had crawfish before so they made sure to invite me over when they fixed it. It was sooooo good. She sent me home with all the leftovers too. I had it again for dinner last night. Mmmmm.

After dinner and a couple of bottles of wine we headed out to the Lions Lair. I’ve wanted to go to this divey punk bar since I was in highschool but never really had the reason to. It was everything I expected: dark, smoky, and rowdy. We went to go see a band called Tub Ring. Check out some of there music here (but I think they were better live). They come from Chicago and were recommended by a few of my brother’s friends. They sound kinda like Mr.Bungle meets Mindless Self Indulgence meets Secret Chiefs 3. We had a blast though. The first band sucked and was getting pretty heckled from the bar patrons. The second band, Bangtel, was a pleasant surprise and their claim to fame was that they had a giant woven blanket with a picture of a pussy on it tacked up to the wall. I ended up staying out till like 2:00 whooping it up. Way too late for a school night especially for a guy who’s sick.

As a result I was sick and tired yesterday. Literally. Not to mention my bills are stacking up. Time to start saving some money. I guess.

I thought I was going to throw up on the elevator this morning.

While talking on the phone last night I was getting drunk with the person on the other line. I had never done this before. I mean, I’ve had a few drinks while talking on the phone, and we all know I’ve done my fair share of drunk-dialing. But never before have I intentionally slung a bunch back knowing the person on the other end was doing the same thing. And we were doing it together. I was drinking bourbon and cokes. And I accidentally hung the phone every time I went in the kitchen to fix another.
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I don’t know. It seems like things have been fairly busy around hubsville. I’ve got vacations planned, plane tickets bought, measurements taken, concert tickets bought, hotels booked, weddings, days off of work, special people to see. It’s all so far away and barreling at me at light speed at the same time. If nothing else, and it is something else, these are generally some exciting and good times for me. And the future holds more promise. Sometimes it’s tough to bring in the reigns, but most of the time I don’t want to. I’ve got lots I need to do in what appears to be the shortest/longest time, and it’s starting to weigh on me a bit, but I think it’s because I let it.

I’m kind of nervous about what I’m gonna say for my toast during my friends wedding. Does anybody have any suggestions? This one is going to be big for me.

My kickball team is a go. This one is going to be a blast.

I have lots of work I need to do. Somehow I always end up pulling it all out of my ass and getting it done. But something tells me that somehow something is gonna go wrong. This one is unjustified.

I’m taking three days off next week to have a mini tour of Southern Colorado including a wedding in Durango as well as some camping combined with a WSP show in Telluride with my craziest group of friends. This one is going to be ridiculous.

All of this is happening this month - in addition to birthdays, rehearsals, parties, dinners, and several other social events sprinkled throughout - and even bigger (and better) things planned for next month.

Weekend Highlights:
Getting paid to golf
Free beer from 1:00 PM to 8:00 PM Friday
Getting paid to drink from 1:00 to 5:00
Spending all Saturday outside
Winning The first game in the Ultimate tournament
Losing The Second Game
The worlds greatest mix CD
Free beer from 12:00 to 6:00 Saturday
Long distance pillow talk
All you can eat burritos
Power napping
Bourbon and cokes
Cigarettes in the rain
Serious lounging
Friends cooking me pasta dinner
Late night jokes around the chiminia

Weekend Lowlights:
Sprained ankle
Competitive golfing (is there such thing?)
Competitive ultimate (is there such thing?)
Hangovers
Too much sun

On friday night I went out to have a few drinks and to try and meet some new people.

I went to one of my three regular bars. After my first beer. A older man on a Rascal drove (scooted?) into the bar. The doorman helped him into the chair next to me and took his sccoter to the corner of the bar. He ordered a beer.

He was in his early eighties. He had thick plastic glasses that enlarged his eyes and seemed to have windshield wipers when he blinked. He introduced himself as Ken. Talk with Ken was sparse at first - “Who won the Rockies game?”, “How often do you come here?”, “Do you work?” But as the bar began to fill with drunk patrons, scantily clad young ladies, and guys looking for tail, our conversation quickly developed. The subjects quickly changed to family, women, what we did with ourselves and why we did it, how we fill our days. Ken had some great insights and had me in stitches a few times. It turned out we were two lonely men at the bar with a fair amount in common besides our age. And some new ideas to share with each other.

Two hours later - after Ken finished his beer, and I had finished three - I got up to leave. And Ken asked the doorman for his scooter. I shook his hand, missing it the first time due to some jerkyness from his degenerative desease and my slight buzz. Ken asked if I wanted to come over to watch videos sometime. I said sure and found out his apartment number. I promised him I’d stop by before the end of August but still wonder if I actually will.

Busy busy busy. I have been a lot happier the past two weeks. I think I may be starting to emerge from a funk. But to be honest with you, I mean me, I’m really haven’t been in touch enough with my own shit lately to tell.

Anyway, I had a great weekend. It all started with an unexpected call from my brother asking me over for margaritas and to then go over to the LoDo Music Fest. After a couple of margaritas with some of the weirdest salt that almost made them undrinkable - it was so sour, we headed downtown. The Trout family came along and brought their press passes so I didn’t have to pay for my ticket. The rest of us conned a scalper (or actually refused to let him con us) for cheep tickets. United Dope Front was finishing up when we got in. Then we caught a half set of the Rebirth Brass Band that were a complete blast. We also caught a half set of Medeski, Martin & Wood who are just a little too improv for me these days, they’re just not that accessible. And then it began to rain. And it rained hard, there was a ton of lightning but it stayed pretty warm so we just danced in the rain and drank rum and cokes that we snuck in. It was only minutes till we were all soaked to the bone. A box of cigarettes turned into a wet wad of paper and tobacco in my pocket and my wallet is still a little damp. After a while, the girls in their sun dresses started to get cold, and all the guys started to get hungry, and it became apparent the next band wasn’t coming on so we left. On the way home we went by a flooded shopping center, rescued stranded drivers, and swam around in the nasty waste deep water.

On Saturday I attended the first annual 80210 House Crawl. Me and about twenty friends on road bikes, scooters, stollers, rollerblades, and one convertible (for emergencies and pitstops) rode around to each others houses. At each stop was a drink, a game, and some food. It was an absolute blast. The games started at 11:00 AM and continued on till 11:00 PM making for a long day of drinking and sun. The events went like this:

Hamburgers, salad etc. and white russians at the Sm*th’s while having a hula hoop challenge.

Points were added up for each game won. A few bonus points were given out for extra funny stuff that happened, longest kicks, wheely contests on the bikes, etc. I didn’t get that many points. But I did come away with the booby prize of a foot tall, porcelain, green, monkey holding a flower in one hand and a bag in the other, for totally dominating in the hula hoop contest and only dropping it cause I was trying to get my beer. It’s all in the hips.

On Sunday me and my brother and a group of friends were supposed to go tubing down Boulder Creek but the weather didn’t cooperate with us. However, it turned out there was an art fair on nearby Pearl Street that ended up being a real pleasant way to spend the afternoon, along with a few pints at Conor Oniells Pub. Afterward we drove back down to Denver for sushi at Tommy Tsunamis where the waitress literally thought we were rockstars. After this great weekend I kinda felt like one.

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