im back at working at journeys, except its an unfamiliar journeys. maybe in north wales or some bullshit? stef works at one thats really close by, so thats cool too. in the back of our store is a fixed freestyle specific bike shop, so hanging from the ceiling are a bunch of the milwaukee trick frames, some of them for sale, and others half built up for customers. i am really pumped because even though its $620, i get a 40% journeys discount.

off to go see algernon, slingshot dakota, and some other bands up at the rudich ranch. devon comes with me, and we are pretty much back together. the show is in a driveway, but there is a huge jungle gym in front of the bands that everyone just crawls on or stands under to watch the music. karl escarcha (sp?), some older filipino dude that used to work at the journeys in north wales, is there, and im super jealous, because i suspect him and devon had a thing at some point.

i dont remember seeing algernon, but now all of a sudden i am in a huge casino with my family. its actually not a casino, but rather a big department store shaped and designed like a casino. i forget what im looking for, but i lose my family and eventually find them. END

housewarming:

so i am moving into a new apartment. i am with sam. during the beginning of the day, i run into a bunch of people and say they should come by and check out the new place. ross, james lynch, jesse and all those other kappa kids. doug and gina and all our friends. a TON of people from the stomping grounds and all their friends. basically, every single person i knew from every different social circle made an appearance, and i was SO happy to see everyone. but i actually call out chris (diem, 1994) during a lull in conversation for being a dick because he came to my house for my housewarming party, and didnt even say hi to me at all. at first i feel really bad because i dont even have stuff unpacked and my shit in the right place, or any furniture or food or beer to give to anyone to hang out, and i feel like its kind of a shitty party and everyone leaves. im freaking out because now that everyone is gone, i have no way to rearrange everything i have, and no friends to help me move all my shit around. but as im going htrough my apartment (which is apparently HUGE), i notice that everyone organized my furniture super awesomely, even bought me some furniture (like this huge red ruby couch, with a smaller ruby couch in front of it for stadium seating). people put everything i had where it neded to be, living room entertainment center was all set up, my kitchen was stocked to the brim with food, i had general supplies for everything. i stumble to the bathroom, and all my mannequins that line my closet-room (i have no idea why there are so many mannequins around), but they are all dressed up in all my clothes and whatnot. my clothes that arent on mannequins is already put away and neatly folded into dressers. i am SO taken aback and SO pleasantly surpriused by everyone. now everyone is back and the party has taken on a much more pleasant tone, people joking around and drinking beers and having a good time. everyone starts leaving (give gina and alita super thankful appreciative hugs), but sam stays. hes eating a brownie that he got from a baked goods display case that someone got me and had set up on my counter, full of brownies and cookies and a box of was paper next to it. i also had this weird free-standing brita thing. i ask him, "is this how standard housewarming parties go? i just kinda thought people would come over and check out my place and chat for 20 minutes and leave, since i dont really have much to offer." sam tells me that the whole small gift-giving is standard fare, but the rearranging and the stocking of everything and the putting away of all my items into their proper place was above and beyond the call of duty. everyone is so nice! i even find some metro passes and stuff for the cities' subway station on top of my dresser, because people know i need to get around and am new and unfamiliar with the city.


im all settled in. years later.
my grandmas are over, and for some reason there are grandma wars, and also wars between grandmas and some other old people that are over. we are watching TV or something and they dont understand how current society works. i am kind of afraid that this is the relationship my parents have with their mothers, and i am afraid this will be the relationship between myself and my parents when they get old. oh yeah, future society is SUPER ridiculous. for example, there are commercials for animal rights and vegetarianism that depict tons of people just starting to eat live animals while they are just standing around. everyone is super liberal and super intense/in your face about it. for some reason, one of my facebook/twitter statuses (because they become the same thing eventually), something i posted to be ironic, ends up getting published in the daily paper, and voted on and reviewed by critics. i forget what it said, but i do remember i got the most props from the pabst reviewer (they pick reviewers based on their beer preference), and the least from the budweiser dude. the budweiser dude even calls me out for something i said, saying that im too young or grow some chest hair or some shit. i think its fucking hilarious, considering i posted it on facebook YEARS ago, forgot about, and now im reading it in the daily paper, along with a little picture of me from my facebook profile with the thinking or speech bubble or whatever.


unrelated. i had to text these to myself so i could remember.
-there is a HUGE tropical storm that is destroying atlantic city. i am in a hotel room and i can see huge tidal waves taking everything else out. im trying to text jillian about it, but apparently they just released some sort of upgrade to texting, so that if you dont upgrade, you run out of letters really fast and also have to type really slow.

-ashley kolb and some other chick...old lady neighbor, plus random people. some dude had a vinyl holster attached to the front of his pants.

-i am riding around some weird city that is almost set up as if it were a bike videogame. i end up playing some weird game involving throwing frisbees, and batting down opposing frisbees wtih old hockey sticks.

ive already forgotten most of it.

i have to do a presentation for my honors project. my professor has put up some sort of flow chart up on the board that she (erroneously) thinks would help me. i end up making a total ass out of myself because i have no idea what i am talking about.

some black soul guy is playing, but for some reason, my car is parked right next to him, and i need to get to bowling. but, hes really nice about it and moves his stuff aside when im backing up and pulling out.

my dad dies at the hospital during some heart surgery. several hours later, i learn hes alive and well and recovering at the hospital.

i decide to buy a motorcycle off of some dude for $175. sam and i walk over to race ave to go pick it up, but its not ready. the dude wont give me my money back, and shoots me.

im hanging out with sam, doug, gina, alita, inchul, yitong, peter, cassie, alex, blake. i say something like, "i should go abroad again."

gina says, "no way dude."

inchul says, "do whatever the fuck you want."


back to australia. this time, everyone from f&m comes with me. for some reason, peter is riding my bike the whole time with inchul, and im really jealous. peter almost gets destroyed by a car, and i almost get destroyed by a douche who drives into the parking lot im walking through and whips around me into a series of donuts. this black dude gets out and gets in my face, trying to fight. somehow, the situation turns into us becoming really nice and him saying "im so sorry man!" and us being best friends.*

we are taken on a series of orientation activities for O-week. we are all living in the same residential college that i did last year. for some reason, all of the orientation activities are really intense. i think some of the 3rd years were throwing axes and knives at a bus, and killed someone.

another activity was that we were supposed to show some other college these aboriginal dance moves we learned, or something. but we get ambushed, and pelted with volleyballs that are twice their normal size.

as our big group (f&m, plus all the australian kids that are taking us around) goes through some buildings, i see super cute australian ladies i would totally try to get on if the situation were right. gina or someone reprimands me, and i realize these are the kinds of thoughts i cant really share with too many people.

i am hanging out at the australian version of 504 west lemon. for some reason, everyone is a weird, foreign combination of drunk and high. gina and sam come in, and sam is dressed like jesus from halloween. he has a white cake that is covered in candy and twizzlers**. he and gina are visibly pissed that they had to make the trek over here, to apparently give this cake to alex, who just really wanted it and was kind of being a dick about it.

im hanging out with one of the 2nd or 3rd year boys (they dont say dudes). turns out we are going to dinner at another college with some other older students, and thats when i realize i get to see lochy. SO. FUCKING. PUMPED.






*combined stories of me and sam almost getting into fights with drivers/other drivers, plus gabbys cocktail party
**valentines cake sitting on the table at 504

all my teeth were falling out on the left side of my mouth. one, two, three, four...

i move into a new college apartment at some different college with the azars and janine and some other people from aston. for some reason, at this school, everyone is in each others face about EVERYTHING.

south philly hop along show. for some reason the show is in a huge gym/auditorium on campus. i go with jillian, and dance my ass off during hop along's dancy songs. turns out the girl i was dancing with was some random girl from germany or something! so embarassing. i find jillian and try to introduce her to marky, but shes off somewhere, and i later remember shes already met him. he asks me where i got my hat. i ask him how has life been, and he says its a thing he really hasnt thought much about. i told him, "thats such a shame! ill let you think about it, and get back to me."

for some reason, this show was like the superbowl of shows. famous actors would come out in person and do short commercials for new products or companies or whatever. andy dick had a short commercial about him as an annoying, dorky little kid, and then all of a sudden he emerged in front of us in real life, and continued the commercial, which turned out to be something about general electric. lame. there was another one about a nascar driver who would just ram into everyone and make them crash. hey hey was supposed to play the show but i didnt end up seeing them, or even seeing danny around.

i leave the show, but i get lost and im wandering around trying to find it again. i end up in some gym class, and get in this kids face (for what, i forget). i realize hes going to punch me, and somehow i manage to block the punches, but i cant throw any effective punches back. i backhand him and slap the shit out of him eventually, and he has the most absurd hand-shaped red marks on his face. sucker.

there is a food court attached to the big gym/auditorium thing that the show is in. i buy myself some food, and realize that i have to pay hop along a bit, because i brought them to the show. i ask around to the couple of other people that agreed to bring hop along, and some people say "i bought marky lunch" or "i bought frances a sandwich earlier", so i decide its fair if i buy marky some ice cream or other such dessert as payment. oops, i only have 3 dollars.

im hanging out with amanda, gabby, miriam, rachelburgos, samantha bold, and some other girls. dont really know what to do with myself. alex shows up. now i definitely have no idea what to do with myself.

im helping alex krajkowski fix a flat tire for his super-weird mountain bike that has a super small front tire. it takes alot of convincing for me to get him to ride with me on a different bike to the bike shop. sometimes, cars are so inconvenient!

gary had a bunch of us over, but he lived in a much bigger, multi-room apartment. he had a glass box of bees, 15 normal ones and one queen bee. someone had broken the box, and so all the bees were out and about through the apartment. noone wanted to step up and try to hit the bee homing beacon thing on the box, because the queen bee was just chilling on it, and pretty much ready to fuck up anyone who came near. having bees around an apartment is very stressful.

snowing/everyone everywhere/pirouette show. its john galm's birthday, so everyone is especially psyched. everyone is in a library. weird.

devon tried to get my brother sean to smoke pot. WTF