RKMBs Forums JUNE 2009

here's to june! ...er... at least may! c'mon, i'm like 30 days away from catching up, after about a year of 3-4 months behind. this is exciting! in a ... 4+ week away kinda way! regardless! may started out all loud and proud. lotsa crap going on early, and often. and not crap crap, but good crap!

first up to bat was crumbs! cake crap! crumb's is this world famous bakery that specializes in cupcakes. and by "world", i mean "nyc", cuz i honest dunno, or care, if it's popular beyond 10 miles from me. regardless, they finally got around to building one in hoboken, and i was all excited to try it.


i've heard people rave about the cupcakes there, both people i know and them famous folks on the teevee. its a bakery they constantly talk about on howard stern, too -- artie lange and bababooey, in particular. and because both of them are enormous tubs of shit that beast upon desserty deliciousness with a passion, i figured that was the best stamp of approval that a bakery could ever have. the loving worship of gluttons.

finally, after months of waiting for the grand opening, and seeing a neato lil "coming soon" sign that looked like a cooking timer, the place opened. alexis and i were out at hobson's and i checked to confirm on my glorious, and new again, iphone. all excited to beast on horrible-for-you-ness, we rushed up washington street to take a tour. their cupcake selection was like an art gallery that you wanted to lick. which, frankly, sounds terrible. but the pictures reveal otherwise.

i went with the traditional "chocolate", which was a chocolate cupcake, with chocolate filling, chocolate icing, chocolate sprinkles. oh, and a chocolate brownie mushed into the top of the icing. its essentially your caloric intake for 2008. alexis got some sorta cookie equivalent: vanilla cupcake with chocolate chips, cookie dough icing, cookie mushed on top, etc. both sounded friggin awesome, and somehow we were able to convince ourselves not to eat them til we got to the apartment.

rushed home. cleaned the table. set up plates, knives, emergency glasses of water, napkins, got some good tv on, rescue me or something, then began to slice and serve. the first bite was to be savored, delightfully. slowly. passionately. yes, that much effort was involved.

...and it was shit. the cupcake was terrible. my mouth was confused, deceived by my eyes, stomach, and mental imagery. i wasn't even able to comment until lex muttered a frustrating "meh" from hers. another bite in, just incase, to the same result. despite the 34 combination of "chocolate" in my cupcake, there was little-to-no flavor in it. it was just like mechanical fluff and paste. we were heartbroken. i dug around for the "good parts", but found none, and simply threw the 90% remainder out. betrayed.

the next day was the first hoboken festival of the year. the unofficial, unofficial welcoming into summer. you'd think and hope that this would mean glorious sunshine and spectacular spectacularies, but no. it meant rain. and cold. and dreary. a nice little touch of london, all for our own.

mary had a table again this year, so we went out to visit. my mom and dad were coming up for the day as well, bringing kathleen. my parents and i made plans earlier in the week to go out to lunch while they were up, so it was gonna be fun. in addition to the british weather, mary brought matthew with her. ...and matthew brought andy and sandra. t'was an invasion.

haven't seen the two of them since mary and matt's wedding, which is now more than 2 years ago. in that time, they've splurted out a son named otis who was also on hand for the events. we hung out at mary's spot for a bit, then grabbed a beer at a bar right next door. all while waiting for my parents to arrive. once they did, the brits were off to ... brit their way about town, i spose.

my parents, kathleen, alexis and i then went to buskers, the default "eat with my parents" place. got ourselves some drinks and grub to enjoy the time together before the day sorta ended and everyone crashed at my apartment for a few hours. i always try to have a good selection of coca-cola for my dad, and comfy chairs ready for my mom. sweetening the deal still, we got some brownies and cookies from carlo's, which is so goddamn good. each bite was a special "fuck you" to crumbs.

eventually, everyone had to hit the road. the only bad part about all of these festivals, outside of the day's worth of chilly rain, is that they're always on a sunday, so no one can stay late and drink away the evening. the perfect society of "every day is a weekend" just has not come to fruition yet.

it actually would have been convenient if my father was able to crash for the night, cuz the very next day, monday morning, we had plans. yankee plans! all this time, i was looking into buying tickets to a game so we could go and check out the new stadium when, at some point, i realized i could just buy tour tickets for like 1/200th the price, and even get a better look!

i clicked through the yankees site, found the tickets online to the first day tours were allowed in the new stadium and made a purchase. $20 a piece. so, ok, 1/200th was a bit of an exaggeration. it's closer to 1/125th the price. but anyway.

the tour started around one, so my father met me in hoboken around 11am, giving us time to head over. there was a game that day, but it wasn't until like 7pm or something, so we hit almost zero traffic the entire ride there. what could normally take close to two hours was about a 25 minute drive.

the whole ride up, we're just talkin about how we think the season is goin, what we think of the new place, etc. i think, really, we both think the new stadium is all sortsa cool, but... it just isn't yankee stadium. not yet. hard to tell if that'll be the forever feeling or just the one we're stuck with now, but it's definitely there.

eventually, we roll up on the palaces. these two awesome, glorious-looking cathedrals just sit there next to each other, in the heart of the bronx. its weird, even the entire area around the new yankee stadium looks new. despite being only like 50 feet from the old stadium, the new stadium is bathed in a different kind of light. cleaner, newer.

course, there's no great lots by the new stadium yet, so we creep our way back to the ole girl's side. we land the all-time greatest parking spot if there were, in fact, a game going on at the old stadium today. a great spot, but about 8 months too late. but it was close enough that we could hop out, walk half a block, and get started -- standing directly between these two massive and beautiful and iconic baseball heavens.

because there was no traffic, and we got the crazy awesome spot, we were really early. too early for our tour. so, we figured we'd just tour around ourselves, outside the ballpark. see all the new sights and such. even took a few moments to just walk around the outside of the old stadium. she still looks good, though it's sad to see the dismantling process begin.

the area by the new park is beautiful. i mean, bright and fresh sidewalks, huge walking areas, all clean and sparkly. lots of places to meet up with folks on days where you're all headed to the game. just the outter part of the stadium, itself, is gorgeous. reminds me of all the photos of the original stadium in the 50s, and reminds my father of ... well, his memories. lotsa classic, art deco, 1920s appeal to it. just beautiful.

with all the freebie time we had, we decided we'd take advantage of the opportunity and go into the stadium hard rock cafe, just outside gate 4, the main entrance. grabbed a seat at the bar to relax for a bit, just me and my dad. the hard rock is surprisingly not as yankees memorobelia intense as i thought it'd be. it's actually much more just like a regular hard rock cafe, with a few bits o'yankees stuff around. we didn't mind though. everyone who worked there was ridiculously nice and wishing us well on the tour, n'such. definitely not the old stadium atmosphere.

an hour later, we were ready to roll. walked around to the main entrance, handed over our tickets to be scanned, and made the first ever steps into the new yankee stadium - a new section called "the great hall". and, holy fuck, is it great. it's enormous! i mean, the ceilings are like 75 feet high, towering the whole height of the park. the whole thing is wide open, with skylights up top, gigantic banners of yankee players all around, posters and logos everywhere... just awe-inspiring.

and this was just the start! the tour collected just inside the great hall, waiting for everyone to get on the same page before the guide took us around to the various parts, spewing all sortsa history and information. it was roughly 40 people, 38 of them japanese, and then my father and i representing the english-speakers. hooray!

from the great hall, we walk around a few corners to the team museum. we're in the front for a few seconds while the guide chick explains the significance of the room itself, and a few of the main pieces. then, my dad and i just start to fully realize everything around us. all the old shirts, tickets, seats, world series rings and trophies... its like a baseball fan's dream just in this one part.

there's a life size statue of don larson, and 60 feet 6 inches away is a life size statue of yogi berra, replicating a scene from the 1956 world series perfect game. then, between them, is like 1,000 autographed baseballs, signed by any yankee you could think of. all around the outskirts are pennants, classic logos, game-used uniforms, the whole bit.

there is a 3D model of the new and old yankee stadium, indepth recaps of all the significant eras (ruth, mantle, etc.) through out the years, and they even brought thurman munson's locker from the old stadium, installed with every last detail just as it was when he died some 30 years earlier.

just an awesome place. i could easily have spent another two hours in the room, looking around and reading everything i could find. i lvoe all this history crap, especially when it pertains to the yankees, as opposed to ... y'know... other history.

but because the tour time is finite, we had to keep things moving. the tour chick lead us outside and down a few more hallways to our next stop. even along the way, the whole stadium is really decked out with cool features. there's a section with huge digits featuring all of the retired numbers, another area with giant-sized baseball cards, a hallway filled with world series team photos... every detail is just awesome.

and we didn't even get to the awesome parts yet!

after the museum, we took a trip to monument park. in the old stadium, monument park was the attraction. that's where all the history and plaques and all that stuff went, and people'd tour on through to see it. now, with the great hall, a museum, hallways filled with memorabilia, etc. you'd think monument park gets kinda lost. but no, it doesn't, that's all redone and awesomefied too!

the park now sits in dead center field, as opposed to left center in the old stadium, and is just below the brand new restaurant and bar area. it is mostly outdoors, and it was spitting rain just a little bit, but really no one cared. all of the plaques are glistening in the light, the main monuments placed dead center as they were in the original stadium, and adorning the outer areas are the retired numbers; of which the yankees have many.

it's really amazing to see how many absolute legends the yankees have had in their history. there are 15 retired numbers, including 8 twice. with at least jeter and mariano assured a spot out here, that'd be 17 total. that's crazy! they're running out, and quickly. but it does make for a beautiful park, so they at least got that down.

even the ground was laced up with the yankee pinstripes and insignia. leading you all around the monuments, through the numbers, n'such, then to the top center of center field, where you can see over the wall into the playing field. just friggin beautiful.

from there, it was down a few more hallways, up a few more flights of stairs, past a few more "i can't believe these are here" sections, loaded to the brim with memorabilia and posters and famous pictures. now, we were actually walking inside the actual "bowl" part of the stadium.

we could feel the breeze. we could see the grass. we were exposed to yankee air.

this was the good stuff.

seriously, this was the good stuff! even after seeing the outside, the great hall, the museum, the monuments... walking into the actual field part of the stadium was always this amazing part of going to the game for me. i have this memory infused into my brain of walking through the dark tunnel towards this bright, glowy, summer baseball light. not being able to wait until i was on the other side.

now, as soon as you walk into the stadium, you're instantly in the park. there is no tunnel anymore. there's no darkness. there's no back area. the entire section where you wait inline for bee... uh... sodas or hotdogs, and the area where you walk around to look for your seat section... those are all in the actual stadium! you just turn your head to the side, and there's the game in the open field, right there.

its actually kinda shocking to see. everything is so out in the open. instead of the dingy wall separating you from the game while you're waiting online behind 500 other people getting a pretzel, you now have a full scene in living HD right in front of you. the whole stadium is like that, upper and lower deck. the people in the last row of seats is the new "wall" between the seated and the walking.

we walked around the entire length of the stadium on this breezeway path, from center fiend to behind home plate. then, at the home plate area, we began to walk down the stairs past all the expensive seats. all the cushy, squishy, luxurious seats. we were walking past the $200 ones, the $500 ones, even the $2500 ones, then the mayor's seat... then up to the wall.

...then, the wall opens. and we're taking steps onto yankee stadium dirt. walking towards yankee stadium grass. wrapping around into the yankees dugout. we take a few concrete steps down, and we're in the actual dugout, by the bullpen phone, the bat holder, and eventually seated on the bench. friggin awesome.

the whole thing is blowing my mind. i mean, i guess i knew it was going to happen, as part of the tour, but actually being there took it to a whole new level. the tour guide rambled on about the stadium and the grass and the seats and all, but she was mostly phased out. i was sitting in the yankees dugout with my dad, and that was the coolest friggin thing in the world.

after another 20 minutes in the dugout of essentially melting my brain with fan glee, the tour began to wrap up. we exited the dugout like angry managers, then walked up the stair isle like ejected attendees. we worked our way back towards the entrance of the stadium where the tour started - conveniently next to the gift shop - and the guide said her farewells and thank yous.

my dad and i did what we could to delay the inevitable, walking slowly and lingering around where we wanted, etc. snapped a few additional pictures, and really soaked in the environment before moving on tot he team store. other than it's size and variety, there was nothing too interesting to us in the store, especially still riding the high of seeing all the cool stadium features.

after having our fill of the store, we departed from the stadium. contemplated grabbing a bite to eat in the area, but then decided to just head back to hoboken, instead. the whole way home, we were just talking up all the kickassness of the adventure we just had; actually walking on the field was a first for me, and i was clearly 8-year-old (dude) excited.

we stopped off at benny's for some grub, and to continue the conversations. it was really awesome, being able to, at least temporarily, forget all the crushing weight of life's bullshit and just talk baseball and pizza with my dad. even if, nowadays, those discussions are peppered with the new-found negatives; e.g; the unhealthiness of the meal, the cost of stadium tickets, etc. but at the very core of everything is just a fun talk with me and my father.

between the two of us, we had over 300 photos and 5 videos, each promising to provide copies of the other's work. and, at the very least, this was our first experience at the new stadium, so it was cool having a "first" like that with my dad in a way that wasn't possible beforehand.

awesome, awesome day.

on the evening of friday, may 8th, alexis was meeting laquanda at green rock. i hadn't been to a friday happy hour at green rock in probably a good two months -- a far cry from the "every week" kinds guy i used to be. i figured i'd do my best to stop by, and see what it was like to be normal for an evening.

the girls have to get there 5ish to grab a table. i was up at 7 that morning, cuz i had a 9 am meeting in the city, and a bit of prep work to get ready for it. so, by 5pm i was already beat. even still, there was no way i could get there before 7, because of a late friday night west coast meeting. my favorites! though, actually, that went so well, we were in and out in less than ten minutes. ...which... actually is my favorite!

eventually i got to walk on over and meet up with them and with rockstar. at least to pretend i was people. even then, i had to excuse myself a few times like a pretentious jackass to take a business call outside. at least i'm dedicated -- just dedicated to too many things. i was only really there for about 90 minutes, a few beers and two shots worth, before it was time for us to head out. not directly home, to another bar.

second up for the evening was four L, the former favia. favia was good times, but four L is a much better bar, and now, a few years after the switch, has better food, too. no food for us this time, it was just booze. normally, i'd go right to whisky, but their vodka specials sounded good, so i jumped on them. had a club soda with frickin rootbeer vodka. rootbeer vodka! it's a little fruity, sure, but i was just amazed how much it tasted like the soda -- like being impressed by popcorn jelly beans.

after a few more hours hanging out there, everyone was drunk hungry, the most vicious form of hungry known to man. we headed to the best and worst of all possible choices; mcdonalds. i am now reduced to getting mcdonalds only like 3 times a year, so when i get it, it gets me. entirely regrettable the next morning, but so, so good while eating. we got the goods, walked laquanda home around 1am, and even found some spare time to stop and pet a random two week old puppy. after waiting for alexis to burst into "it's a puppy" tears, we finally completed the trip home to end the evening.

one notable piece of info from earlier in the evening was laquanda revealing she was having a medical procedure the following monday. nothing too major, but it still involved a trip to the hospital. which, at the very least, makes it noteworthy enough to stand out.

it wasn't overnight, or anything, but she wasn't allowed to leave without someone there to bring her home, despite her apartment being around the corner. and because that means it's right around two corners for me, i volunteered to be that hospital guy. she was gonna have some other people drive around or whatever, but i said i'd be happy to. i'm a good boy! noble. strong character.

admittedly, my task was pretty easy. i had two super early morning meetings then just had to arrange some calls to free up hospital time. walked over at 3, got thee at 3:05, then was told she wouldn't be out until like 4:30, cuz they didn't even start yet. ...alright then. waiting room was empty. i had my iphone and my bag. i could chill in there for a bit, play some games. not like there was hot girls or anything to impress.

...and then... hot girls walked into the waiting room, waiting for their friends in surgery. bah! so, of course, i had to put away my video games, and make my cool "sitting in the hospital" face. and i'm all "t'sup baby... dying?" and she's all like "*mace spray, mace spray*". ...or, y'know, something like that.

an awkward and uncomfortable hour plus goes by, and eventually, some doctor lady (which is a nurse) comes out to tell me that laquanda's done, and she'll be out in a moment. and, that she was, fully up and awake and functional. not in any pain, though perhaps a little discomfort -- but i'll be fine (badump kish). laquanda was doing well post the procedure, able to move about no problem.

i grabbed her stuff, walked her out, and took her home, right around the corner. she had the day off from work, so she was just going to pass out in bed. thankfully, i had ridiculous amounts of work and calls to keep me busy, so i headed back to "the office", and hunkered down, safe in knowing i've accomplished at least one good thing in 2009.

went home on sunday to continue my streak of being a good boy, and visited my mom (and gramma) for mother's day, bearing gifts. even dropped alexis off at her house, first, and wished her mom (and gramma) a happy mother's day, bearing gifts. four for the price of ... well, four!

typically, i'm a flower-delivery kinda guy, but to be honest, i'm really exhausted by how fucking expensive flowers are, and how they basically die in three days. it's an insane waste of money. plus, it has to be bad for the environment, right? cuz they're cutting down these beautiful flowers? i'm just trying to be good and green.

so, this year, instead of flowers, i got each set a edible arrangements. costs about as much as flowers, looks as nice as flowers, but with the added bonus that it actually serves a purpose; food! really good food, too. all types of fresh fruit, and even some that is dipped in chocolate, for that perfect way to de-healthify something naturally healthy. seems to go over much better.

food delivery aside, it was mostly just about visiting. first with lex's family for an hour or so, then moving over to mine for the rest of the day. its a totally different atmosphere, being in randolph with my family, versus being in my apartment, where virtually every minute of the day is spent in front of the computer. in randolph, everything is easier. no pressure. actual appreciation. just different.

it was a really nice day, too. the weather was actually beautiful; somewhat atypical for mothers day, which tends to always be this miserable pile of rain. but my mom deserves goodness! she's constantly taking care of everyone, so it was good to see the weather actually there to take care of her. and, since my mom has become obsessed with birds, it was also a nice little touch that a robin's nest was recently filled with hatched babybirds just beneath the deck.

the birds have good timing!

that week, summer actually started to creep in. the weather was suprisingly clear. the air was surprisingly warm. the sun was out, the sky was blue, the birds (those old enough) were singing... it felt great. i could finally start wearing short sleeve shirts, finally start enjoying the sights, finally start getting rid of the coats, etc.

the negative of summer, one of very few anyway, is the end of tv. granted, lately, i just don't watch tv anymore. i never seem to have the time or a chance to, and apparently, i've just selected sitting in front of the computer for ungodly amounts of time as the true way to rot my eyes. it is certainly the top choice.

i really don't watch much tv anymore. and, one of the sadder things about that fact, is the few shows i do watch, all seem to be ending now. ER, over. boston legal, done for months. the shield, also done for months. i've got few things left: the office, 30 rock, lost... that might even be it. i still watch other tv, i guess. lotsa yankee games, some jets games. i watch food network or discovery channel when i can. never really anything specific to tune into, just whatevers on typically interests me for the next half hour. my "event" themed shows are very limited; pretty much just down to lost now.

on that wednesday, may 13th, the season finale hit. its the only "gotta watch this" show, and really the last one i can remember liking like this since the sopranos. even more than the sopranos, though, this show is a "have to watch immediately" type, cuz if i don't, someone else is gonna talk about something and spoil it! and i wanna find out everything first!

this last episode was a doooozey. the show has this amazing quality of being ridiculously absurd, yet keeping me around. then, almost every season finale or season opener does something to completely change everything that was established without shaking away any fans. its quite well done in that regard. but this time, this episode... started setting up all the pieces for next season, the final season ever.

i've got my theories. ...all of which sound really good and took a lotta thought to get to. ...and all of which could instantly, and shamelessly, be shot to hell within 30 seconds of the next new episode. and i'll still love it.

so, ok, how about ...this: the smoke monsters is the devil guy. he's spooky, makes a weird accounting machine noise, and likes to drag people to their death. he has the ability to manifest himself as other people, as long as their bodies are on the island (jack's dad, ecko's brother, horace, etc).

his goal the whole time is to find a loophole to kill his brother (?) jacob, which for whatever reason he can't do himself. so, in smoke form, he has "scanned" others on the island looking for a way to do so. he scanned ecko, saw that this was a truly apologetic, repentant christian guy, and just flat out killed him. he saw / scanned locke, recognized that it was a guy who could be manipulated (by his father, by ben, etc), and saved that note for later. he scanned ben, saw that ben was an evil, squirrely kinda guy (with giant bug eyes) and found in him a murderer. save that note for later, too.

every time we saw "jacob" in the cabin, we actually saw the devil guy. sometimes, he was already manifested as christian -- the same form that convinced locke to leave the island and be killed. and we saw the "note" from the actual jacob on the wall of the cabin last week, indicating jacob had left to lie "in the shadow of the statue".

locke's body returns, smokey takes over. smokey manifests as alex, whose body is now also on the island, and as alex, tells ben to listen to whatever "john locke" says. ...who, according to this spew, is also smokey. locke tells ben to kill jacob. ben has to listen. loophole found.

the others are the good guys, and have always been (they keep saying it!). ben may have been a shit, but the rest are good. at some point, the "tribes" fragmented, with ben's group being lead by a false jacob (devil guy), and the others (like elan) knowing the true whereabouts of jacob. richard may have been the cause of this, when he left the island to look for locke. together, the others are the disciples, and richard alpert's job is to continually (jack) sheppard them. jacob brought alpert to the island via the black rock to fill this role.

their language is latin, as evidenced by juliet - and later alpert, when he responds to elan's question about who lives in the shadow of the statue; "he (jacob) who will save us all." (and possibly, there, uniting the various "other" tribes).

on the beach, the devil guy tells jacob that "it always ends the same" -- a potential reference to time (travel) looping over and over, where the outcome is always the same. jacob responds that it "only ends once; everything else is progress" -- potentially meaning that they make slight advancements to finding a way for peace every time, before "hitting the reset". he visits the characters in their past, setting them on their paths -- moving the pieces of the "chess game."

daniel's theory was correct; little changes don't impact time, but large ones could. however, his "blow up the island" theory wasn't big enough. killing a god, however, could be.

enter next season where basically the same situations will happen, only perhaps taking slightly different paths on the way to achieving peace -- a montage of everything that happened in the previous 5, but with different (better?) results. and perhaps the only way any of this would have ever come about is by jacob recognizing he had to be killed to inspire it. their plane still crashes on the island, and jack wakes up in the forest. as shown in the split-second preview for next season.

thursday, may 14th, was my triumphant return to the gym. er, awkward. my awkward return to the gym. it's been building for a long while; a constant thought in the back of my mind, and my depleting physical ...physicality. days turned into weeks into months into ...lots of months. and, finally, i just couldn't take it no more.

by march i knew i had to do something. but my "excuse last line of defense" kicked in with a number of very creative alternative suggestions. for example, they'd offer the theory that, perhaps, i shouldn't just rush into the gym, lest i get injured. instead, i should start out jumping rope or running or whatever, locally. maybe wii fit, or something.

after a few weeks of that not working in any way, shape, or form, i had enough. it was way worse, way more difficult in my head than it was going to be in real life. i simply had to talk myself into going (read: trick myself into going) and just get it over with. i found my old ipod (wouldn't dare risk the iphone!) grabbed some workout clothes, located my gym notes and headed over.

because of my ridiculous schedule, i was able to squeeze in some time around 11am, which is a far cry from the 6 or 7pm i used to get there; and really all for the better. it's entirely empty, except for a half a dozen milfs. that works out perfectly, cuz all the machines are empty, there's no naked guys walking around, and the only thing to look at is attractive older women trying to look more attractive. sold!

for me, it was great. i mean, it was terrible, but it was great. terrible because my numbers were sad. using my old workouts as a template, i was doing like 40-50% of what i used to be able to plow through. more than a little upsetting. but, at the same time, it felt great to get in there. move past the excuses and delays and whatevers. i was actually doing something.

served as a great contrast to the remaining 18 hours of my just sitting in a desk chair, 4" from a computer screen. actually had blood moving around and sweat pouring down. it was a slow return, with humble numbers, sure... but a return, none the less.

the following weekend, laura was able to land some bleacher seats to the yankees twins game at the new stadium, and was nice enough to invite me along for the ride. she was going with mike and faz and had an extra seat, and of course i was just the perfect size for it, so i nabbed the opportunity.

the three of them drove in and started a small little tailgate party in one of the newer lots. i took the D train and met them with a few pregame beers before we worked our way inside. it was only a few weeks since the last time i was there, but it looked so different filled with people for a regular game. put a better scope on how friggin huge the place is, to see it all crowded with little ants walking around.

one of the greatest benefits of the new stadium is that the entire thing is connected. no longer is there a separate entrance for the bleacher section; the alcatraz of the former yankee stadium. now, you can walk in anywhere, then walk around everywhere -- another perk about the new stadium, as the old place really frowned upon you being anywhere but your own seat.

yet another perk of the new stadium, the bleachers now had access to alcohol! something the old stadium put a stop to about 15 years prior. but no longer! booze is still not sold directly in the section, but a 20 foot walk puts you in the bud line, moments away from expensive yet tasty alcholic beverages.

then still another benefit... we didn't have to remain in our bleacher seats! in fact, we only did so for about 2 innings. the rest of the game, we spent in the little courtyard area towards centerfield, where this is a number of high tables and a huge outdoor grill. it was like being at the park. or a bar. or... a yankee game. all of them, really. just so friggin awesome, an amazing view. and, really, because it was bleacher priced, not all that bad, economically speaking!

we just grabbed the table closest to the field, sent single search parties out for group booze, and enjoyed the game: featuring a damon-enhanced comeback yankee win in the 10th. had to be a win on my first trip!

with the weather staying nice, i was making more and more trips to my deck. day and night, didn't matter. i just like being outside. sometimes, i'll hit these great work stretches from like 1am til 5am, but even in the middle of those, ill just grab a chair and sit for a bit. watching the stars, the clouds morph in the moonlight, looking over the city... just nice.

by this time last year, i already had some tomato sprouts, some basil, and a buncha other weird growy things popping up from my planters. the tomatoes were cool, but honestly a bit of a pain in the ass. if they're on there too long, they fall and break. they grow too tall to support their own weight. some bushels die off cuz they get too much sun, or not enough, or too much water, or not enough. i'm no farmer!

with that in mind, i was pretty close to just abandoning the idea of growing anything out there. i even got rid of all but one of the dirt boxes. i reconciled about the last one, deciding, eventually, to keep it for a singular purpose: basil.

unlike tomatoes, basil was far less of a diva. i could ...forget to water the plant for a few days, and everything was fine. it smelled good, tasted great, could be used in more things, had less maintenance, and repels mosquitoes, which often plague my deck area towards the twilight hours of the day. so, fuck you to them, i gots me natural repellent.

and, really, it just looks good to have some sorta greeny planty thing. it makes things look more like a place where people go, instead of the post apocalyptic areas i typically hang out in. and, thus, i bought some seeds! i planted said seeds. i sowed said seeds. seasonally.

with the end of lex's school year fast approaching, and my apartment being as cramped as it is, i figured i had to do something to accommodate the addition of "girl" for the summer. not to mention, something to sorta spruce up the old place, which has gotten purdy messy in the past few years.

a major part of that plan was complete: getting rid of all of my comics. that opened up a ridiculous amount of space, from my closets to my shelves, beneath my bed, etc. that still didn't necessarily provide any new space or opening or anything. it was time for a change. it was time... for ikea. now, i had the option. i could wait til alexis got there that weekend, then made a treck down the turnpike to elizabeth to wait for hours behind fat folk trying to save on the 99 cent meatball specials. or i could just shoot over there one night after work, and see if i could do the work myself, saving on weekend hassle.

off the train. got my jeep. hit the turnpike. unlike the nj stereotypes, i know little to nothing of the turnpike. i guess, growing up in randolph, i never really had much need for the turnpike or parkway, minus the 2 trips per year down the shore. but here i was, soaring through traffic, driving beneath landing planes, and arriving safely at ikea, with special help from my iphone's google GPS.

i got to ikea. knew exactly what i wanted. just had to find it in the store, so i knew what location to look for it in the massive warehouse down below. unfortunately, despite knowing exactly what i wanted, i still had to plow through the massive maze of a location, which has no direct routes, to work my way to the lower level, claim my prize, pay, load up, and leave. thus, a 5 minute process became a 45 minute process.

making me all the happier, two of the needed roads to get home were now closed. and as good as my iphone gps is, it couldn't update itself quick enough or give me a chance to read while driving, so i had to sorta force my way through... only to get back to my apartment, knowing i had to carry two 95lb ginormous boxes of "malm" up five flights of stairs.

...yaay...

for fleet week, we actually had every intention of actually heading into the city, checking out the sights, being patriotic, the whole bit! we made plans, checked schedules, sought availability, woke up early... we were being american, americanning about in an effort to hacksaw jim duggan the day.

unfortunately... no one else paid attention! you can see, in great detail, all of the piers across the hudson from hoboken. all of the locations where the giant stashes of ships were sposda be docked. big ones, small ones, even ones with chicken pox. all sortsa destroyers and air craft carriers.

promised on the site, denied in sight. and you can't get much more american than a homophone. regardless, t'wasn't a boat to visit. at least at the times we were planning to head over.

it was still a beautiful day, and we were still all outside and excited to hang out, but it was a bit disappointing to actually make plans for something, then have it fall through. regardless, the day went on, and fun was to be had. americanly.

and, what does one do on a boatless fleet week? you go to hobson's and you sit in the sun! may was pretty much a great weather month, for the most part anyway, and the 21st was the epitome of that. just beautiful sun, bright blue sky, and high 70s air to keep everything warm.

everything except the sangria. that, we were able to just get rid of on our own before the warm air could damage it.

so, no, the day didn't turn out boated as expected. but it was still so very awesome.

beyond the nicer weather, longer days, and boobie-fantastic / girl-exposing outfits adorning the worthy, one of the official endorsements of summer is the red dot army of blood suckers. the lil spidery things that appear in groups of hundreds and scurry around every piece of hot sidewalk you can spot.

i dunno exactly what they are, spiders, ticks, mites... whatever. i've heard "clover mites" as their formal name, but i still prefer bloodsuckers, cuz that's what i grew up calling them. y'squish'em, and there's blood everywhere. clearly, cuz they drank all the blood out of... the... sidewalk. its a theory!

they appear in huge groups, a hundred or so, and just spread out over the ground. i always noticed them most on the patio in my parent's backyard, but now i see them on my deck, too. which is 5 flights up. i dunno how any of these things are getting so high off the ground, but apparently, they love it. i guess its a pretty odd connection to have with youth - via bugs. but its there! i can't deny that every time i see'em, i think about being a kid (and, well, squashing'em). simpler times, simpler pleasures.

at least it confirms the arrival of summer. the bloodsuckers state it first, even two days prior to memorial day. they know, the lil buggers.