Ligand… funny word… smells like cabbage

Did you know Talk Like a Pirate Day is September 19? My pirate name is Iron Morty Kidd, too! Thanks for that Lindsey… arrrrr.

So my homework has officially started. All it is is research for two fifteen minute oral presentations and one six-page paper. God, fun fun. Well, at least I like what I’m working on (bugs). Woo!

I’m hitting up the ESPN Great Outdoor Games in Mad-town. It should be a ton of fun since it’s free, and since we need no ride (they shuttle). I’m looking forward to it mucho: lots of dogs and lots of lumberjacks and lumberjills, which I’ve never seen aside from TV.

Aside from that, here’s a great song I think people should see by Atmosphere. If you feel the Minnesota pride, read through it or DL the song. Even better, buy the album (Se7en’s Travels).

slug

Always Coming Back Home to You (Hidden Track) – Atmosphere

I wanted to make a song about where I’m from
You know big up, my hometown, my territory, my state
But, I couldn’t figure out much to brag about
Well, Prince lives here, we’ve got 10,000 lakes
 
But wait, the women are beautiful, 
to me they are,
And we’re not infested with pretentious movie stars,
Then it hit me, Minnesota is dope
If only simply for not what we have, but what we don’t
It’s all fair, it ain’t out there, it’s in there
It’s in the mirror behind the breast, 
under the hair
 
“Follow the dream” doesn’t mean leave the love
Roam if you must, but come home when you’ve seen enough
I love New York and Cali, but I ain’t moving
Too overpopulated, saturated with humans,
And I’m not big on rappers, actors, or models
If I had to dip I’d probably skip to Chicago
 
None of this, this or this, no one, no where
Like damn I’m from Minnesota, land of the cold air
Too many mosquitoes and a fair share of egos
But, like my man Sabby says, 
“That’s where my mommy stays.”
 
So, if the people laugh and giggle when you tell them where you live
Say “Shhh!”  Say “Shhh!”
And, if you know this is where you want to raise your kids
Say “Shhh!” Say “Shhh!”
If you’re from the Midwest, and it doesn’t matter where
Say “Shhh!” Say “Shhh!”
If you can drink tap water and breathe the air
Say “Shhh!” Say “Shhh!”
 
Got trees and vegetation in the city I stay
The rent’s in the mail, and I can always find a parking space
The women outnumber the men two to one
Got parks and zoos, and things to do with my son
The night life ain’t all that, but that’s okay
I don’t need to be distracted by the devil every day
And the jobs ain’t really too hard to find
In fact, you could have mine if you knew how to rhyme
 
This is for everyone around the planet
That wishes they were from somewhere
Other than were they’re standing
Don’t take it for granted
Instead take a look around
Quit complaining and build something on that ground
Plant something on that ground
Dance and sleep on that ground
Get on your hands and knees and watch the ants walk around the
ground
Make a family, make magic, make a mess
Take the stress, feel your motivation, and build your nest
 
It sucks that you think where I’m from is whack
But as long as that’s enough to keep your ass from coming back
And, with a smile and a hint of sarcasm he said,
“I beg your pardon, but this is my secret garden.”
 
So, if the people laugh and giggle when you tell them where you
live
Say “Shhh!”  Say “Shhh!”
If you know this is where you want to raise your kids
Say “Shhh!” Say “Shhh!”
If you’re from the Midwest, and it doesn’t matter where
Say “Shhh!” Say “Shhh!”
If you can drink tap water and breathe the air
Say “Shhh!” Say “Shhh!”
If the playground is clear of stems and syringes
Say “Shhh!”  Say “Shhh!”
If there’s only one store in your town that sells 12 inches
Say “Shhh!”  Say “Shhh!”
If no one in your crew walks around with a gun
Say “Shhh!”  Say “Shhh!”
And, if you ain’t gonna leave ‘cause this is where you’re from
Say “Shhh!”  Say “Shhh!”
 
St. Cloud, Minnesota
Mankato, Minnesota
Duluth, Minnesnowta
Kansas City
St. Louis, Missouri
Columbia, Missouri
Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Madison
Milwaukee
Cincinnati, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Boulder, Colorado
Laurence, Kansas
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Anne Arbor, Michigan
Indianapolis
Say “Shhh!”
Minneapolis, Minneapolis, Minneapolis, Minneapolis,
Minneapolis…

			

			
							

Lovin’ it… but not like Mickey D’s… more like sweet beetle love

Alrighty, this is a quick one:

The guy on the radio said it all today. “First tornados, then earthquakes… do I really want to live here?” That’s right. In addition to the twenty something tornado sightings last week, there was an earthquake last night. Apparently the quake’s epicenter was in Illinois, but I felt it a ton here. My bed shook, and I thought the neighbors were gettin’ it on. Scary.

Something completely different

I have a bit of homework to do, and… well, look at the time on the entry.

Keep your rum in the flask and your sticks on the ice!

Snoogums,

Co

Lake

Hey hey hey (Krusty style)! I’m back. Man, what a weekend. My future roommates Chris and Jeff were up, as well as ex-floormate Kevin. I also partied with a ton of other friends. It’s too bad it ended up being mostly guys. We all know the term for those parties.

I started learning sailing stuff this weekend. I took my first Board course (windsurfing), and it was a ton of fun. The second day got cancelled due to weak-ass wind, so I couldn’t get rated, thus I can’t check a board out and practice. Suck! It’ll be at least another week before I can get a lesson since I’ll be gone this upcoming weekend. I’ll be taking a “Tech A” lesson on Wednesday to hopefully get rated sailing a Tech dinghy (tons of fun), then I can take a friend or two out! YAY! Please feel free to beg for rides.

Otherwise, things are well. My bugs love me, and I love them. I actually somehow forgot my collection at the Union, and someone found it and called. I feel bad for whoever it was.

Well, I’m too ready for bed to write any kind of fiction, so you’ll have to be happy with the joke of my life. Lol. Enjoy and good day to you, sir.

Lightning

Wow, when lightning strikes, it strikes hard and continuous. I’ve been fortunate enough to experience so many amazing things these last two weeks. Number one was my trip to the west. That was great! I’ve got a ton of bugs, and you’re welcome to see any of them. Hah! Actually, a few of them look really cool.

 

The people on the trip were great, and that sparked off my series of getting to know new people. I got to know five new people, one of which got married during the beginning of our trip (but not on it. He met us on our way out to Wyoming).

 

Just today I took ground school for Hoofers. I also joined for a year and signed up for windsurfing lessons this weekend. Awesome. This will be something I’ll enjoy thoroughly. Hopefully by August I’ll be able to take friends out in smaller boats. 😀

 

Also after I got back, I started hanging out with people I haven’t hung out with much before, which has been truly cool. I’ve had some fairly deep conversations, and I’ve also been able to add to my list of Madison’s more “colorful” folk I’ve talked to. The last two were nuts!

 

One was a guy who must have been tripping on shrooms. He was nice, but he had too many ideas all at once. The friend I was with when we met him said he was like the White Rabbit (a la Alice in Wonder Land). Curiouser and curiouser…

 

The other I met today. His name is Robert Vernon McGee. He was walking down the street singing to himself and carrying three old fishing poles. He asked a couple ladies (very politely and not creepily at all) if they wanted to hear about the fish he caught that was as big as him. They laughed and kept walking, then he asked me if I wanted to. I had time so I said yes.

 

Instead of talking about his catch, he told me he’d tell me a poem that would make me want to kiss him (except then he’d call the police). He said he was 47 years old and had spent three years in jail for drunk driving (no one was hurt). Over those three years, he wrote a poem. It was a long one, recited entirely from memory that sounded a lot like the spoken word style. The title was something like “From the beginning of the world to the end of the world; the devil and the government twist you up”. The first half for sure, but the last part wasn’t “twist you up”. Anyways, it was amazing and probably lasted five minutes, and it was all about government corruption, drugs, chemicals, god and satan, technology and war.

 

Before hand he said he needed $6 to hop the bus back to Chicago and help his mom out, who had broken her hip. He said if the poem impressed me, I could give him some money or just tell him my opinion. After the poem, he didn’t mention the money but continued to tell me how I shouldn’t mess up my life by doing something stupid (college style) and getting thrown in jail. He said the littlest thing could go wrong, and you could end up on the wrong side of the bars. I was really impressed because he meant every word.

 

I told him it was worth $3, but I found that I only had a one and a five. I felt like he needed it more than me, so I gave him the $5. He said, “Now I only need one more, then I’m leaving.” His breath smelled a little like beer, but he wasn’t super dirty and crazy. I think just down on his luck. I believed everything he said.

Miser(l)y

     Oh, back to the old daily grind. My little vacation to the west was fun, but it left me with a bit of homework. Fun.

     I found a stash of cool-ass postcards in Wall, SD, so if anyone wants one, send me your address (Korol, I’m looking in your direction).

     Dogs abound… what was that? I thought it sounded cool, I guess… dogs abound. The words go well together, right? Weird…

     I saw The Terminal tonight with a friend. Tom Hanks is a great actor, and the movie ended uniquely. Definitely a chick flick in only the slightest way. Maybe not worth $8, but I’d say worth $4 at U Square. If you’ve seen it, how did you like the way it ended?

     I was called upon to lead my class in Tae Kwon Do today. That means “setting the pace” for the rest of the class, regarding sit-ups, push-ups, crunches, leg lifts, etc. My arms are J-E-L-L-O like Cosby. Man, I could rap.

     I’m meeting new friends and getting better aquainted with several older ones. It’s nice, kind of like me entering college (with no friends). The summer is new (literally, as of today), and I think I’m starting to settle in, at least until August 15 when I need to relearn where all my friends moved off to. Damn, and I just figured some out, too.

     Well, popular as I am, I’m being inundated by a whole two IMers, so, gotta go.

Snootchie bootchies!

Co

Miscreant

Um, yeah. Just as an update, I’m back! The trip was fun and refreshing, but it’s late, and I can hardly say much right now. The best way to ask me how it was would be to call or keep watching this journal. I won’t be latched to my comp as I usually am during the school year. If anyone wants to see the kickass bug collection I got, just holla.

Nanners and beeners,
Co

Mashing Buttons

Wow. I just discovered the local arcade I never knew we had. It’s a place called ping time, and all they have is old arcade games. I love it. Just to give you a taste, I’ll be giving a couple game reviews, which, expecially with the old games, usually sound ridiculous.

Galaga

Truly one of my faves. You play a ship that is protecting itself from various insectoid attacking ships. Most are like flies or bees and they shoot lasers. There’s a bigger one that’s often accompanied by the regular ones when it attacks, and it takes two hits to kill. It looks something like a spider’s mouth (with the pincers.) My dad actually showed me the secret on this one. If you know the game, listen up. The bigger ships send out a ray once per level. If you have any spare lives, go directly under the ray, adn the big ship will abduct you and turn your ship evil. You lose a life at the moment, but if you can shoot the big ship before the level’s over, you get two ships shooting at once. So sweet. Just don’t accidentally shoot your ship. (This is the only video game my dad admits to liking.)

Ms. Pac Man

Truly superior to Pac Man, this game involves a yellow dot with a bow, lipstick, and a mole on it. Odd? Si. The yellow dot, names Ms. Pac Man, eats smaller white dots and various fruits and pretzels. Four ghosts chase it, and they’re named Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. When the yellow dot eats a flashing white dot, the ghosts turn blue and it can eat them. Fun, huh? Actually it is, so stop making fun of me… This game actually has a preset pattern for the ghosts to travel to attack Ms. Pac Man. Some guy figured it out and got the highest possible score. It’s on video somewhere. Weird.

Discs of Tron

I just discovered this game today. It’s based on the 80s movie Tron, and it is a ton of fun. The game has some crazy 3D graphics, a blacklight, and some surround sound. Not too shabby for a vintage arcade game. The premise is that you, Tron, are inside a video game, fending for your life. You are on a platform and your opponent is, too. You throw discs at each other to knock each other off the platform. You also get a deflector shield to block your opponent’s attacks. The cool thing about this game is, you control Tron with one joystick and use a knob to aim your shot, so the two are independent of each other. You can also fight on multiple levels and with multiple platforms. I love it, and I’ll be goin’ back for more.

Arkanoid

Finally, we get to my favorite classic. The setting: deep space. The plot: You are the “spaceship” VAUS, going up against an evil being. The reality of the game: VAUS is actually just a little bar that you control with a knob. It’s a lot like breakout. You just keep the ball in play and try to break away all the bricks. What makes this ten times better than breakout is that there are trippy-ass power-ups like one that extends your ship, one that catches the ball, one that splits the ball into as many as 20 more balls, and one that lets you shoot lasers to get rid of the blocks. The game at ping time is called “Arkanoid on steroids” or something like that. Teh actual sequel’s called “The Revenge of DoH” (cool name), and it has all sorts of cool extra power ups.

Well, that’s it for the reviews. Let me know if you have a different fave or agree with me at all. I have a couple crazy stories to tell, but they’ll have to wait till I get back from the west. This is my last entry until then, so keep your sticks on the ice.

Mason

DARKNESS BETWEEN THE FIREFLIES
Written and performed by Mason Jennings

I woke up before you in the total darkness, early morning
I could hear the wind in the trees
I was looking for the light to bring you out, from the shadows
redefine you now for only me

And honey i’m sure
that you’ve been in love before,
Plenty of men have held high places in your eyes,
and jealousy has got no use for me,
The past is beautiful
like the darkness
between the fireflies

I was driving faster through the appalachians
I could see the world go out below me in the sun
you should know by now that someone’s always been there, long before you
you’re never going to be the only one,

And honey i’m sure
that you’ve been in love before,
plenty of men have held high places in your eyes,
but jealousy has got no use for me,
the past is beautiful
like the darkness between the fireflies,
beautiful like the darkness between the fireflies

Mid-World Meat Market

Oh, Jesus Christ, how I hate making phone calls,
so I lead a lonely life. – Mason Jennings

Made my best homemade meal yet. Angel hair carbonara from the back of a Noodle-Roni box. Sooooo goods. I got the recipe, had most of the stuff (lunch meat ham instead of tasty ham, frozen peas) then I got a little creative (sauteed mushrooms). Mmmmm… I even have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Yay.

The feets is doing better, though I DO like taking vicodin and need it… not like I need my crack, though.

Sorry for the faithful readers, but no creative fiction (or fact?) tonight. Packing for Wyoming and cleaning my nmaddog room have got me working hard enough. Ok, you called me on it. I haven’t started packing yet… but I’m thinking about it! … yes… yes, I am. Ohhh… still so full from dinner. Can’t move. Can someone roll me out the door into the living room?

In addition to having the best meal yet, this is the stupidest entry yet. I’ll blame it on the whiskey and painkillers.

Ok, well, a short entry. If I don’t get back before I leave, I’ll have a ton to write when I get back.

Mad Skills

You’ve never heard these guys? You need to. I love this song. Reminds me of Minnesota. Uptown is just like this in the summer.

 

Like Today – Atmosphere

 

In tomorrow I see no promise
and yesterday was like today

Woke up, got up, near eleven o’clock
butt naked except I was wearing my socks
and that’s cool, ’cause most the time this floor is cold
stand up and stretch, look around this mess

my place has been a cage since she left me
make my way to the kitchen, start the coffee
then dip to the bathroom, begin the triple-s
and wash the previous evening off me

now out the shower, get dry, shove a q-tip in my ear
well, what do we have here?
it appears as if a piece of me has got motivation
ain’t nothin’ wrong with a little morning masturbation

fresh, dressed like fifty cents
clean and awake now I’m ready to commence
spark up the caffeine and nicotine binge
and that’s pretty much the pattern of how the day begins

and I write for an hour, maybe half hour more
then put on my shoes and grab my key for the door
put my headphones on for this world I ignore
trek down the street towards the record store

“hey, bro – how you doing, anything new today?”
“nah man, how you been? it’s the same old same again”
well, then I’ll be gone, friend, I’ll see you around
then I’m out, destination uptown

in the summertime the women wear a lot of skin
and if I sit in one spot I can take ’em all in
sometimes I even talk, to see if I can make one grin
if not, yo, it’s cool I ain’t gonna take it personally

from Anne Landers, to Ani DiFranco to Orphan Annie
I love all women, but most of them just can’t stand me
I don’t know, maybe it’s my hair or my clothes
“…or maybe she noticed that you was diggin’ in you’re nose…”

either way it’s okay, I wasn’t tryin’ to get laid
I just wanted to say “I hope you have a great day”
and then she stopped with a smile that began to blush
“here, take my number, call me up, I’ll come over and make you lunch”

I got up and headed down towards the book store
to check the titles, that my man Michael’s got me lookin’ for
my visit was short, ’cause I just couldn’t feel
that cat behind the counter actin’ like I’m here to steal

so I dipped back out into a cloud of tattoos
pierced body parts and colorful hairdos
and I questioned, did Babylon resemble this?
are we getting any closer to the end of the list?

a sensuous kiss, placed on apoco-lips
we teach them how to make a fist, but not to resist
and I’m wondering how’d we find this position
but people are people and I still love ’em, (especially the women)

onwards to the coffee shop, maybe Muddies for a refill and some sociological studies
see the junkies, while they co-exist with the sobers
all the bugging of eyeballs, the shrugging of shoulders
and that’s when I saw her, sippin’ on water

I wanna kiss her mom just for having this daughter
excuse me miss, I don’t mean to come across strong
but I’ve been waitin’ a while and you’ve been taking too long
and she smiled and I began to blush

she asked if I’d like to go to the bathroom and make some love
and I got visions of us, and the mirror getting steamed
and that’s the very moment I woke up from the dream

Woke up, got up, near eleven o’clock
butt naked except I was wearing my socks
and that’s cool, ’cause most the time this floor is cold
stand up and stretch and look for my soul

In tomorrow I see no promise
and yesterday was like today.