Fruit of My Loins

Yo! Check out my sons!

Hope they like public school. And I hope they like paying their own college tuition.

Marriage

Erin and I got married.
I had been thinking for a while that she was pretty cool.
And then one day I was all like, "We should do this."
And she was all like, "Fine by me."

And then BOOM we got married.

E to the Mitchell, E to the Mitchell's daddy-o (col' textin'), and me checking her out.

Bowie at Night

I recently found out that the skatepark in Bowie is fully lit until 10 PM, so (despite vowing to never return) I headed out to P.G. County yet again. On the way there, Bulldog and I were gabbin' on the phone, and he seemed convinced that the lights would cast a bunch of "weird shadows all over the place," which, of course, would be terrible. However, upon arrival, I immediately noticed that the folks in Bowie aren't playin' around when it comes to lighting their parks. Apparently an electricity bill ain't nothing to those people.

I made the following video just so that the SweatHog posse could keep Bowie in mind if they're ever in need of an evening option that isn't as life-threatening as Bridge Spot.

Things you should know before watching:

• I do not know how to skate that bowl. It's crazy-hard. I could blame it on being goofy, but you know that's not a good excuse.
• I edited out the ongoing conversation I had with a 9-year-old who asked me about fifty questions (I'm not exaggerating) about spiders, mosquitos, and other assorted bugs in the bowl. He wanted to skate the bowl so bad, but he was SUPER freaked out about bugs, and he seemed to be stuck on some kind of infinite inquiry loop. I was nice to him, but at around question #45, my responses became, "Listen, what kind of answer can I give you that will make you stop asking me questions?" and "I don't think you're hearing my responses, so I'm gonna just keep skating now."
• When the place eventually cleared out and I was finally left by myself, it only took about 15 minutes of skating before I was out of my mind with exhaustion.
• The slow-motion hippy-jump you'll see is a total fake. I included it in the video strictly for laughs. It was like piecing together footage from Thrashin', and I couldn't resist. I did, however, attempt to land it several times for real (again, out of my mind with exhaustion) and got close once. But I also got close to breaking every bone in my body, so I stopped trying.

Alright. Here ya' go. Enjoy.

Click here.

Get Up Morning

I think Jason Hutto once told me that he used to wake up to Eddy Current Suppression Ring's "Get Up Morning" every day. Somehow, that jam seemed appropriate for this video.

This past summer I skated as often as I could, but I didn't capture too much footage. It's a small hassle to set up the camera all over the place. And most of what I film is garbage.

That being said, this next video (the link is posted below) is a collection of many of the random bits of skate sessions I captured during the summer months and on into this past weekend. The only footage I didn't include was the stuff I shot in Virginia Beach 'cause I was sportin' an unflattering tank-top undershirt (I just can't seem to type what those things are typically called), and despite the current state of my hair, I am somehow self-conscious and vain.

Time for some shouts:
Shout-outs to Percy, Todd, Bulldog, Nice Guy Andy, Bret-I-Just-Met, and Skater Ed for showing up in this video.

Additional shout-outs to the SweatHogs who aren't featured here, but those fellas are tops.

Obligatory girlfriend shout-out to Erin MitCHILL for puttin' up with me while I sit around wearing headphones and make skate videos all night long.

Random shout-out to my Minutes posse in Michigan 'cause I haven't seen or spoken to them in a while, but I think of them every time I post a video. Consider it my way of keeping in touch while we stew on our next record. 

Special shout-out to Dale Miller for coming out to a Soccer Team show the day after he got back from Europe (he should've totally been in bed).

Bandmate shout-out to the Soccer Team posse for nearly finishing a record that's been eight years in the making. The majors are hounding us.

Old friend shout-out to Kate MacDonnell... Hey, where you at, girl? I know you're not reading this. 

Shout-out to Soung Wiser 'cause, hey, that poster you made looks great.

Shout-out to Dan Bodner 'cause, man, you're supportive as all get-out, and I just like hearing from you.

Alright. That's enough outta me.
Click here to jump to the vid.

Greenbelt

Saturday was one of the hottest days of the year. It was actually tough to breathe while skating, so I didn't last too long.

Click on the image to see a larger view. That'll enhance the shot of me falling.
That's what's important. 

Wednesday

Soccer Team's playing another show. Spread the word.
Here's the online flyer:

And here's the original drawing:

Sissy

Pesky blogs... It can't always be good news...
My grandmother passed away.

She was 89.

Yesterday I was helping my mother go through some of her old photos, and I came across a couple of dynamite Polaroids.

The first picture was taken at a wedding in 1968, and it's a rare shot of my mother's immediate family all together. 
I know the exact spot where they're standing, and It's really funny to me that they're all posing on the opposite side of the church. I mean, there's an impressively massive church right across the sidewalk from them that would make for a far more interesting backdrop. 
However, I prefer this angle (selfishly) because eighteen years later, I ended up spending quite a lot of time skateboarding in that parking lot stretching into the distance.

And the high school my brother and I went to is visible back there, as well.

Mom (age 16), Aunt T, Uncle G, Butchie, Uncle J, Ernest, Aunt D, Uncle H, and Sissy.

This second picture is a shot of my grandmother holding my sister, Christine, when she was pretty tiny.

Christine doesn't really look like that anymore.

I remember that corduroy couch they're sittin' on. And that mirror with the gaudy gold frame. I'm gonna guess that there's an ashtray on the end table to the right... and probably another one on the coffee table just out of sight. 

As for what's going on with that other couch cushion parked over on the left side ...

Your guess is as good as mine.

Summer's Over

It's 6:45 AM, and I'm about to return to work today.
My list of things-to-do this summer resembled a long (but typical) New Year's resolution list:

• Work out.
• Skate every day.
• Draw more.
• Learn how to play guitar in standard tuning.
• Write eight new songs for Soccer Team.
• Write eight new songs for Minutes.
• Read one book per week and at least one issue of The Atlantic in its entirety.

And ... just like an actual New Year's resolution list, what did I accomplish?

None of it.

However, the summer wasn't bad, and with that in mind, I've put together a video documenting one of my favorite skate sessions of the last two months. The weather was sweltering, which is why you'll notice that my shirt was drenched.
Chris G. recently made a video of his family vacation edited entirely in fast-motion. So I decided to go the opposite direction; this one's all slo-mo.
Click here to watch.

Front Royal

Todd and I went to Front Royal, VA today.
That park is not at all close to DC.
Shout out to Red Fang's first record for getting us there and back (yeah, that's right, we listened to it twice).

I didn't have time to pull together a movie, but the photo above was certainly one of the highlights of the morning.
If Todd sends me a shot of the shiner/scrape he acquired today on his leg, perhaps I'll post that as well.

All in all ... it was a pretty good day.

Wreckage from the Night Before

People of Earth,
Behold!
Another movie detailing more adventures!

Trust me when I say ... you've never seen a skate movie like this before.
Click here to watch.

Penciling and Inking

A couple days ago, I was talking to my friend Tori (who's a pretty great illustrator and inks in a completely different style than me), and I asked if she'd be up for working on a penciling & inking project. She said yes with zero hesitation. The plan was to sketch the same sculpture at National Gallery, trade the sketches with each other, and then ink each other's drawings. No photos could be used for reference.

Here are the results:

Houdon's sculpture of Diana and Tori's inked version of my sketch.
Click on the image to view a larger version.

The museum was about to close, so we had to act fast. We looked around at a few sculptures and ultimately selected a bust of Diana by Jean-Antoine Houdon. It's from the late 1700s and resides in the same room as David's portrait of Napoleon chillin' in his study.
The angle I chose to work from is pretty typical for me: profile with a lot of focus on the hair (I went back to the gallery today to take the above photo). Sadly, Tori didn't get a photo or scan of my pencil sketch, but you can see her finalized ink version... and I assure you, her shading technique is wildly different from my own. Nowhere in my pencil sketch did I shade anything remotely in her style, and I was thrilled to see her inking style applied to my drawing.

Houdon's sculpture, Tori's pencil sketch, my inks, then my ink wash.
Again, click on the image to see a larger version.

And here's the same sculpture, but this time from Tori's perspective.
I tried to take a photo of the sculpture today from where Tori was sitting while drawing, but there was a girl parked on the seat (snoozing), so this is as close to the angle as I could get without putting my camera in front of the sleeping girl's face.
Here you should see the sculpture, Tori's pencils, my first round of inks, and finally the ink wash.

Three Parks

In the past three weeks, I've been to three different skate parks.

Quite honestly, I'm skating worse than ever these days. By the time I get semi-used to the new terrain, I'm usually too exhausted to keep skating.
That, however, hasn't prevented me from documenting these experiences.

Behold!
Another video.
Click Here.

The music is a bit all over the place on this one.









Shout-out to Q (again) for "Congratulations."
Shout-out to Chafe and the mix tape I made him years ago featuring "Congratulations."
Shout-out to Kate, Rob, and Mark Herndon for our Twin Peaks marathon back in '94.
Shout out to DEVO and the shirt that Jon Lyons owns.

Crowds and Justice Being Served

Ever wonder about all those dummies in the backgrounds of photos taken at crowded sporting events? 
Here's how Erin and I became a couple of those faceless blurry ovals. 

Friday. Baltimore, MD.
While skating the bowl in Hampden with Todd, a fourteen-year-old kid from Florida mentions the Dew Tour to me and is shocked to discover that I'd never heard of the event before. In fact, my naiveté caused me to assume the "Dew" was spelled D-O, which I thought was a ridiculous name for a skate tour ... until I found out it was D-E-W as in Mountain Dew ... then I thought "Do" was a much better choice.

Saturday. DC to OC.
After the final Ophelia performance at C.H.A.W., Erin and I drive to Ocean City.

Sunday. Ocean City, MD (birthplace of tasseled sleeveless half-shirts and red Solo cups).
Erin and I find out that the Dew Tour bowl finals are taking place that day... and better yet--the event is FREE. So we take the bus down to the pier to check it out.

Sunday. Grounds of the Dew Tour.
Erin and I find the bowl competition area, but there's a line for standing room only, and it's not moving. We stand around anyway with a handful of other dummies. Eventually, the line gets super long, and we realize that we're pretty close to the front, so we may actually have a shot a getting in.
While waiting, three girls semi-cut in line to chat up the boys who are in line ahead of us. They're flipping their hair, laughing, and being so cool and nonchalant, but everyone in line behind them knows they're just trying to cut.
THEN
One of the sweet bros from the Orwellian Mountain Dew Security Force announces that there's room for ten more people in the standing room area. The girls start easing their way into the mix, but ERIN EXTENDS HER ARM AND BLOCKS THE GIRLS FROM CUTTING IN LINE, saying to the closest girl, "Sorry, Sweetie, but y'all ain't getting in here--you need to go to the back of the line."

THIS WAS THE SINGLE GREATEST MOMENT OF THE DEW TOUR, I'm sure.

Okay, so here's a shot of Bucky from the depths of the Internet.

And here's me and Erin chillin' in the distance (rootin' for Greyson Fletcher and Tom Schaar).

Driving to Chicago

I know it's been a long, long while since I last posted anything. I took photos and video footage during my recent trip to Chicago, but it really does take a while for me to comb through it all, so sharing images (obviously) hasn't happened.

The road trip was LONG. What should have taken between ten and twelve hours turned into nearly twenty-four hours on the road. Now, I wasn't driving the whole time ... I slept in my car like a teenager (or a young adult). But with no one to talk to, the urge to sleep was nearly constant. I'd be a terrible trucker.

I spent some quality time with This American Life podcasts (a must for any road trip), and the audio version of Stephen King's new novel, which I still need to finish.

Seeing the Minutes fellas was wonderful. I really love how easily we can fall right back into step with each other, like no time has passed. We didn't spend a bunch of time catching up. We just kicked like we always do. 
The highlights:

• Post show conversation (not about the show) over Thai food.
• Shouting a polite greeting from a car window to the-band-who-cannot-be-named from Georgia.
• Mystery Science Theater-ing some original Star Trek episodes (Gorn, y'all).
• Checking out Wilson Skate Park.

Below is a video I put together that should emphasize how much time I spent in my car. I'm trying something new here: I'm hosting the video through another site in the hopes of eliminating some of the pixel-heavy compression.

CLICK HERE
Just so ya' know, I tried to sync the footage with a bunch of different songs (Beatles, Breeders, Aaron Young, Suicide, Common, etc.), but this Elastica jam worked best. 
I would've never heard this song, by the way, if it wasn't for Melissa the Q. She's the only person on earth who owns the second Elastica full length. Seriously, go back in time and check your dusty CD tower. You may find their first full length in the stacks (the one with the "Three Girl Rhumba" cover), but I'll bet a small sum of dough that their second record is no where to be found.

Busted Sea Donkey

It's true... I'm getting older and steadily uglier. But the wild dichotomy between the following two photos is insane.

First, behold this shot of me recording vocals with Soccer Team. This happened just today.
It's a pretty good picture. 
I watched Melissa attempt to take this photo out of my periphery, and she had to take like a dozen shots before she got one that didn't feature my gut in any sort of prominence. But the photo is perfectly fine. In fact, it's a pretty interesting shot of the door in the background, and as art, I'm okay with that.

The ol' fisheye ain't helping matters here.

Then, Chris posted new shots of the Sweathogs skating today, and... well ... I guess I'll just let the photo speak for itself... 
It looks like 40 is hittin' this dude HARD.
More sea-donkey than man, really.

Johnny No-Mates: the Loneliest Skater

Here's some more how-to-be your-own-best-friend stuff.
Enjoy.

Fly Out

Photo by C. Grady, y'all.

All knees.
No style.

Legs

PADS. The knees featured above are not my knees. They're Chris's. But he's got the right idea. I'd like to wear the ol' pads more often ('cause I'm destroying my pants ... and I suppose my knees, too), but when it's 88˚ like it was this past Tuesday, rocking knee pads over jeans gets pretty itchy, sweaty, and uncomfortable.
So this is fair warning:
I may be rockin' some shorts soon.
I haven't worn shorts in years. I hate them. I prefer my gams to be covered... protected by fabric. And let's face it, the world's better off not seeing my bare legs.
But I think it's time. It certainly won't be pretty.

Fashion

Soccer Team's playing a show tonight. This is an old photo of us, taken back before our label manager (Mr. L) forced me to change my look completely as means of selling more records. Now I'm rockin' more of that "hip vagrant from Brooklyn" style.

With my transformation from square-old-man to happenin'-young-guy, our Q now wants to change her look up, too. She asked me at practice what she should do, so rather than running through our set last Saturday, we spent our time huddled around a dry-erase board coming up with a perfect new look. 
Will there be time to acquire all these new threads before the show tonight?
I hope so.

Poster

I finished a new poster design for the Taffetys last night.
Thought I'd share the process with you:

1. Erin films different sections of the Ophelia rehearsals, and I go through the footage to grab some still shots. This is far better than asking dancers to remain motionless for 3 hours while I draw.

2. I draw using a bottle of ink and a brush while watching episodes of Twilight Zone. I happen to love Twilight Zone very much.

3. I scan the figure drawing, hand-drawn text, and any other components I may need.

4. I put all that garbage together, and it usually takes me about a hundred years. I hate this part of the process because I have to use my computer for the final arranging--which means I can't watch Twilight Zone while I work (unless I set Erin's computer next me--which is totally what I do when she's not home).
For this one, the background texture came from the severed back cover of an old paperback (it was either I Am Legend or The Martian Chronicles). There's really nothing quite like dog-eared and sun-bleached paper.

Below is a jpeg of the finalized version.

Jeans

That's a photos of me drinking coffee. If you look carefully, you should see that I'm really drinking that coffee--not just posing with a mug to my lips.
Erin and I went to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, courtesy of the generosity of friends. Our place for the weekend was beyond nice. I completely fell in love with the house and daydreamed almost constantly about owning a house just like it ... one block away from the ocean.
Unreal.
Everything about the weekend was wonderful: the walks on the boardwalk, the video games at the arcade, the ice cream, the lobster (that I mangled like an idiot novice). We relaxed. We watched the Vans Pool competition and Poltergeist. We ate carryout Chinese food. And we both fell totally in love with the house and its surroundings.
Everything was almost perfect.
Almost.

There was one disturbing feature in the house that I (or anyone else on Earth) could've done without...

The denim upholstery.

Wow.

Not just one piece of furniture was covered in denim. 

Not two. 

BUT THREE.

In case the photos didn't capture the denim in all its glory, I took the following photo for you, dear reader, so you could see how my legs would just camouflage right into the couch.

That being said, the texture and horror of a denim couch did not prevent me from taking a delightful nap Saturday afternoon on it. I slept like a baby. 
No one could see my legs, but I slept well nonetheless.

Links

Two things:
1. I read an interesting article online from The Believer today, written by Tara Jepsen.
Click here to read it.

2. I can't really even see the word "believer" without thinking of Charles Burns. After reading the article, I was wondering if there was an archive of Believer portraits by Charles Burns... and BEHOLD, I found it. Whoa.

"Don't drink, don't smoke ... what do you do?"

I've been a little behind schedule with the posts. Of course I know, in order to maintain my readership (which may be up to 7 by now), I need to update regularly. But I get busy, you know?

Hopefully soon I'll post some photos of my annual birthday walk around the monuments, but I'm sort of hoping that Soung will send me a few of the pictures she grabbed.

As for now, and sorry to post something about skateboarding again, but I'm just super excited...
My girlfriend bought me a new board for my birthday, and I finally got to set it all up tonight with trucks, wheels, griptape, etc. I even managed to skate it down the street for a bit. Attached is a photo.
It's a Welcome deck.

Click for a larger view. It's totally worth it.

After skating a Scum board that I really liked, and since I grew up riding a series of Luceros, I really wanted a board shaped by Paul Shmitt, and I selected this Adam Garuda model for the shape alone. Since I'm well out of the loop on current skaters, I've never heard of anyone named Adam Garuda, so before Erin bought it, I had to do some Internet searches on that name to make sure that this Adam Garuda person wasn't a miserable piece of doo-doo. For all I knew, he could've been some sexist, or racist, or some guy who lights farts... and I wouldn't want to support that. There's a lot of that in the world of skateboarding, and I'm not trying to support any of it.
So I searched the name and found nothing. I mean, I found nothing about a guy named Adam Garuda.
So I searched Garuda and found out that it's the name of a mythical bird/human-like creature from Hindi culture. Cool.
Then I looked a bit more closely at the graphics and realized that the Adam is supposed to be Adam Ant, and he's riding on on the back of this Garuda. Unbelievable. The graphics magically 180'd from the ugliest I'd ever seen into the coolest I'd ever seen.

Alright. I've got a ton to draw tonight for a new Taffety Poster.
More later. 

Success/Failure

I'd love to take credit for this video, but I can't. This one's all Grady.
It's not long, but it tops all the ones that I've put together so far.
Enjoy.

Special Treatment

A while back, a friend (let's just call him Ghris Crady) accused me of receiving special treatment when I bought a new skateboard deck and had it shipped to me at Dischord. In his defense, he was giving me a hard time jokingly ... I mean no one really cares about additional swag (or schwag, as it's often and annoyingly pronounced. Seems like the equivalent of saying "Shweet" and "Noice"). I ordered from NHS, and I received (along with my board) stickers, a dvd, stickers, more stickers, and other assorted stuff (like dice and shoelaces). However, I wasn't actively trying to get "the hook-up" by having my order sent to Dischord. Since I live in a basement apartment where deliveries sometimes disappear, and since Dischord receives packages every day, AND since I worked there on and off for around 10 years, AND since my girlfriend works there presently ... having the thing shipped there just seemed like a better/smarter/logical/practical option. 

That being said, when Ghris ordered a complete board from SoCal and had it shipped to his house, he received only the following: 

How one finds stickers this small in a box full of packing material is beyond me. That's good diggin'!

When I ordered from NHS FunFactory (a different company, mind you), I received this:

Do not overlook the "SK8 Dice" and extra shoelaces.

Now. My argument was, and still is, that NHS FunFactory is simply more generous with the promotional material.

Ghris's argument was, and still is, that I got hooked up because the box was being sent to Dischord.

Well, today I believe I have finally stumbled upon new fuel for this debate.

Erin ordered a board for me for my birthday, and she had it sent to Dischord.

Inside the box (along with the board, of course) was the following:

1. Some crumby Socal stickers.
2. Three sheets of griptape SCRAPS--none of which were long enough to cover the board even if combined.

I actually find the latter somewhat offensive, especially since the griptape was made by two separate brands and featured wildly different textures.

My SoCal stickers were indeed bigger. Look left and check 'em out.

But I honestly don't think there was any special treatment considering the griptape came straight out of SoCal's trash.

European Airport

I turn forty on Saturday.
There.
I said it.

Forty.

The video below has nothing to do with turning forty, though. 

Filthy Laurel the Movie

Spent all night working on this, and it's not even 60 seconds long.

People of Earth, 
I made this for you.
Here ya' go:

Filthy Laurel

See the guy falling?
That's me.
Alright. Now take a look at the other guys...
Apparently, no one's too worried about the potential face-plant in progress. In fact, judging from this photo, it looks like ol' Lyons may have even pushed me. 

Concerned friends: Todd M., Aaron H., and Jon L. at the height of nonchalance. (Photo: Chris Grady)

Just Got Back

Ike Turner, Chafe-to-the-Hensley, M. Larmee,
and a troll with Dave Grohl's unfortunate hair.

I've got a problem:
Whenever I travel, I bring a camera along, but I rarely bother to actually take any photos. It's terrible. I need to get better at that. My New Year's resolutions for 2012, 2013, and 2014 were to take more photos of friends. After failing miserably for two years in a row, perhaps I should finally admit to defeat for this year. Hang it up already.

This past weekend, I went to Kalamazoo (and to Chicago for a night), and I'd really like to share some photos, but I've got nothing from my own camera beyond the ones in the previous two posts. The photos that do exist reside in other people's cameras or F-book pages.

As for now, this photo of Minutes here was taken by Liz Büstamänte last night. She's in a band from Chicago called Stomatopod (great band, great people. I like 'em a lot).

I'd like to send a special shout-out to Ike, Mel, Adeline, Millie, Mark L., Tobi, Chafe, Anne, The Stomatopod Army, The Nation of Rutabega (as if they read this blog--HA!), Boring People, every single person who stood around and watched our LONG sets, and that drunk guy across the street from Mark and Tobi's who was partying (solo) on his porch this morning at 8AM ... blasting Bright Eyes, drinking, shouting lyrics, drinking, wobbling, stumbling, smoking, drinking, lying down, spinning in a chair, pointing, singing, drinking, etc. What a show. 8AM 'til 10:30 ... what a magnificent show. The guy had stamina. He performed for the world, and only two people watched: me and M. Larmee.
(Imagine us, eyes shut, heads down, fists in the air ... "solidarity, brother.")

"That Buford's a sly one ..."

If you were thinking that this sort of thing could only occur in a movie like Raising Arizona... think again. This happened. On Earth. With no prompt, cue, or guidance from Hollywood. This classic, printed message (a command perhaps) developed naturally in a child's brain.
(I swear that's not my handwriting.)

Updates from Michigan

Tobi & Mark L's bird, Dave. Or Steve. Or Jenny. Alright,
I didn't catch the bird's name, but I'm sure it's one of those.

Here are some photos taken in the 'Zoo. Actually, these are all screen captures from video footage, but it all would've made for a pretty boring movie.

Had it become a posted video, you would've heard Ike talking about animals and serial killers, then you would've watched Millie sneeze twice. The sneezing was the highlight.

That's Ike. He's bragging about learning "Eruption."

Mark & Millie. They're baffled at what appears to be an unplugged version of "Eruption."

Tobi. She's trying to politely leave the room as Ike's impromptu concert turns into a hostage situation.

Adeline. She just finished half a Baby Ruth, and now she's masterfully steering the discussion to a memorable scene from Caddy Shack. Millie's in the background chasing Dave, or Steve, or Jenny as he/she flies around.

Millie. Right after a powerful sneeze.

Johnny No-Mates

I had a million things to do today, and making a movie sure wasn't one of 'em.
That didn't stop me from piecing together another amazing skate video--completely loaded with ragin' new tricks.
Sure, it's only a minute long, but don't let that fool you. Every second is packed with mind-melting action that's guaranteed to amaze. Enjoy.

Discussions Near Unfortunate Graffiti

Jon L., Aaron H., Lando M., Todd M., and Bulldog. Helmet, helmet, helmet, helmet, no helmet.

I wish I had photos from '87 of my friends and me sitting around on our boards in Mt. Calvary's school parking lot. We'd skate for a little while, but we'd always end up sitting on our boards talking for a bit longer. 

I was thinking about that on Saturday at GSL as skating started happening less and less due to a swirling conversation about the 5 worst songs of all time. My list never changes that much, but I'm certainly willing to swap out a song if a worse one comes my way. And number 5 ... coming up with number 5 is always tough.

1. "Kokomo" (the undefeated champ)
2. "Layla"
3. "Come Out and Play" (AKA "Keep 'em Separated")
4. "Dude Looks Like a Lady"

Sometimes number 5 is "The Girl Is Mine" by Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney. It's good to remind people that Thriller wasn't perfect.
On Saturday, however, one of the skaters (Brian) tossed "We Built This City" into the ring, and he presented strong and sound arguments for why it should be counted among the worst.

There's a problem, though ...
I'd have to listen to each song back to back in order to decide which of the two is the worst, and I don't think I can subject myself to the torture. Memory has to play a significant role in the creation of such a list. Actually making the effort to listen to these songs deliberately (rather than stumbling into them while sitting in the dentist's chair) ... that's doin' too much.  

Amid all the conversations, some skateboarding did occur, especially on Sunday. And I'm pretty sure we all ended up mildly sunburnt since the temperature hovered around 80˚.
Without our beloved Chris G. there, I had to pick up the reigns in documentation, and I did a sad & pathetic job. I got no shots from CP or Laurel (sorry Linc), but I somehow remembered to pull the camera out at GSL. Below, here's what you'll see:
1. Aaron H. dropping in at GSL. He had a good day. I think the world opened up for him.
2. Jon Bulldog and Jon Lyons. Jon L. wore that shirt just to receive compliments all day (and it totally worked).
3. Todd M. and Lando.
4. Bulldog carving around that Crass logo.

Face Scan

Please believe me when I say that I am extremely aware of just how many photos of myself are featured on this here blog. There're WAY too many, for sure. However, I have a feeling my mother and maybe even my sister check this blog from time to time, and since I have almost no F-book presence, I figure photos of myself in the here & now may keep 'em coming back.

Today at work, in an effort to make a student laugh (it worked, by the way), I scanned my face. I post it here now because the image is actually kind of interesting. I sort of dig how it's hyper focused and super blurred at the same time. My gray hair is coming in NICE. And the beard just looks gross.

Yesterday, I stopped by Darren and Kathy's house, and I spotted a photo above their fireplace taken at their wedding; it was a shot of Darren and some of his closest friends, with Erik and me right up front. It's a great photo, but MAN, I looked like a baby. It was a tough pill to swallow ... seeing how much I've aged in 12 years. Now, I'm not sad about it or anything. Hell, I like myself a lot more now than I ever did before. It's just personally fascinating to see how much a face can change. And 40's right around the corner. 

Comparison Photos

The weather this weekend was finally just right, so the Men's Support Group (ladies, you're welcome to join anytime ... please), the Sweathogs, met up for some more tiny bowl action. We hit College Park, and some of us even managed to squeeze in a session at GSL a little later (before the evening dice games got underway).

Chris G. posted some photos, one of which features Aaron Harmon after his first successful drop-in. Shout-out to Bulldog for coachin' him through the ordeal like Julie Walters in Billy Elliot: shoutin', spittin', cussin' ... or wait, maybe I'm thinking of Burgess Meredith in Rocky. Either way, ol' Bulldog helped him out.

As for me ... well ... there have been many remarks in the past about my chimp-like style, and I suppose Chris finally captured resounding proof that I'm more monkey than man.