We've Felt So Inclined

Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

A town most commonly known for being flooded count 'em, three times, including the "Great Flood" in the late 1800's. Just walking thru the local Walmart you can see that the community is still yet to recover. Not good news for residents of New Orleans. So what does a group of culture vultures and cosmopolitans such as ourselves go on a Sunday evening?



Answer: The Incline.



Get this: Johnstown, PA has the world's steepest vehicular inclined plane. Believe it. And we rode it.

Holding on for dear life


The view from the top


Looks scary huh?


The main motivation behind riding such an obvious certain disaster was because at the top is a bar called City View where you can... view the city.

Don't jump Daniel!


Daniel, Brian, Jeff & I came across what looked to be a map of Hell and found it a fitting background for a photoshoot.

Daniel seems to be quite content in Hell


Brian falling into the pit of despair


Being a perfect angel while on Earth, I was a tad confused


Jeff didn't understand the assignment


The food was fine, but we spent most of the time out of our seats trying to guess the city depicted on the bathroom walls (I came closest with a guess of southern California when it was Arizona) and enjoying the wonderous view of the nice and dry version of Johnstown.



You can see the potential for flood disaster


Me & the Boop


And what outing would be complete without a nice dose of ice cream? None I tell you.



For a finale we took in a screening of Angels & Demons. Guess which is which.

Outshining The Fox In Cleverness

Hello from camp. We've been quite expeditious so far, moving right along and plowing ahead, those kinds of things. Opener is ready to be signed & sealed (not quite delivered) after one week, despite the split groups the whole time. More work for me. I rise to the challenge. I also outshine the fox in cleverness.





Other than that it's been same old. Daniel & I are rooming together and we watch movies every night. So far Yes Man was unexpectedly adorable, Doubt was foreseeably masterful, and Blindness, well, I wish I had been blind and deaf so I didn't have to experience that. Let down is an understatement. Tonight is Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, or maybe the theater, since the corp is done at 2 and leaving for Memorial Day extravaganzas and won't be back til Tuesday. Look out Johnstown. We're staying behind.





But good times have been being had and the team has really taken shape. Each night has ended with a smattering of gatherings in our room for impromptu listening parties which is a department I flourish in. Opening some eyes and ears. It's what I do. Also talking Braddock 2010 with Michael & Daniel. It's nice to see the excitement there and so early on.




One more thing; Brian, Katie, Daniel & I stayed up late last night sorting out the scenarios for the "murder game" so I believe as of this morning, it's on. Be on your toes folks. And if a seemingly awkward situation arises, just run.

Heading Back...

...this time for like 10 or 11 days. I hear there's a lot of work to do. Goody gumdrops.


Hopefully all the automotive drama is behind us, but I guess we will see, eh.

Mixtape> 5.9 thru 5.20

Now It All Seems To Be Cut & Dry

1. Greater California - The Soft Lights
2. Candy Claws - Snowflake Eel Wish
3. Nomo - Bumbo
4. The Hylozoists - The Island Of Seven Cities
5. Venice Is Sinking - Wetlands Dancehall
6. Linc Chamberland - A Place Within
7. Maxïmo Park - Let's Get Clinical
8. A.R. Rahman - Latika's Theme
9. Shiny Toy Guns - Major Tom {Peter Schilling cover}
10. A Hawk And A Hacksaw - Hummingbirds
11. The Long Lost - Domestics
12. Bill Callahan - My Friend
13. Hands And Knees - Hot Little Item
14. Director - I'll Wait For Sound
15. Jason Lytle - Birds Encouraged Him
16. The Ghost Is Dancing - Battles On
17. The Most Serene Republic - Sherry & Her Butterfly Net [16-bit]
18. White Rabbits - Percussion Gun
19. Clues - Cave Mouth
20. Blk Jks - Mystery
21. Au Revoir Simone - Shadows
22. The Maccabees - Love You Better
23. Death Cab For Cutie - Blacking Out The Friction
24. Apostle Of Hustle - Eazy Speaks
25. The Polyphonic Spree - I'm Calling
26. Swords - Land Speed Record
27. The Weight - Talkin'
28. Radiohead - Anyone Can Play Guitar
29. People In Planes - Tonight The Sun Will Rise
30. Aphex Twin - Dodeccaheedron
31. Kaki King - Everybody Loves You
32. The Beatles - Penny Lane
33. Bravo Silva - City I Love You
34. Califone - 3 Legged Animals
35. I Am Kloot - Chaperoned
36. Honig - Brand New Bike
37. The Books - Enjoy Your Worries
38. Clear Tigers - Igloo
39. Midlake - Roscoe [acoustic]
    

They Moved Their Feet

I had the pleasure of leading the newly formed and freshly improved RxHSCG09 unit into its first public performance last night at the annual "Prism" Concert which normally hosts young aspiring musicians and their solo individual on such classic works by Bach or Beethoven or Kenton, but my girls, they performed to "Move Your Feet" by defunct Danish dance duo Junior Senior. A good time was had by all and I honestly think they took a large step in the right direction. Now if we can just fill out the numbers.

A few shots from the warmup





Good jobs girls.

Indefinite Arthroscopy

Delgado out for who knows how long, and still with Reyes's mystery injury, things are getting interesting. Church misses third on the game winning run? I'm glad I won't be able to watch the next ten or so games and just hope that when I get back there's a different team on the field. Literally.

Flagless Intro

So I know it's not much but, we're only 2 full days in, and I had to come home before the last block last night so... it's all I got. Camp is what I'm referring to here, in the lovely backwoods of Johnstown PA, where the skies are grey and the air conditioning is limited to those with real power.




Apparently the economy has hit YEA! harder than had expected because they're making budget cuts in very strange places. You'll be glad to hear that I haven't touched a single piece of equipment outside a bare pole, so that has been a new endeavor. Mostly we've just been having the kids beat each other with them for own amusement.





Unfortunately there's not much more to report on. Like I said, only 2 days, which also happens to be the exact same amount of time before I head back. That drive is a doozie. Is that how you spell doozie? Scenic, but long. Good roadtrip material if I had the time. Anyhow...

Horror On The Boardwalk

Laura in front of Dante's Inferno

Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY

May 17th 2008 @ 3:36 pm
[exactly 1 year ago]

Sharks Or Jets

Bout to leave for tour in the morning, or at least spring training, but I have no idea what that actually means. It's usually accompanied by a feeling of a summer-long departure, albeit an involuntary one, from my everyday life. But I don't feel like I'm leaving for the summer, so I must not be. What does that mean? I think we'll have to wait to find out. Tyler came thru in a bind to get me thru the next month, but after that who knows. I feel like I'm kinda sabotaging myself, and it feels good. Things may be very different come Sunday evening. Let's just say I got 8 hours of driving this weekend and plenty of quality thinking time. I'll probably just end up rocking out to some music tho. I haven't even packed anything yet. Like nothing.


So anyhow, Cadets show is West Side Story. Original, I know. And me? I'm still deciding which side to be on.

My Swedish Cuisine

The meal that awaited me upon arrival. It was breakfast time.Let's see here, we got rice, good, with curry powder over it, chicken and a little veggie medley with some basil sauce, some sliced banana and a little tangy thai sauce on the side. Random yet wholesome.



Hawaiian Pizza (I think I've already posted this but...) As you can see the Swedish are quite fussy about the placement of their pineapple.



This is just some basic Lebanese kebab. Can probably get it on any corner of midtown Manhattan, minus the rat hair.



A typical grillad kyckling (grilled chicken) salad with corn, pasta, peppers, lettuce etc. But they had the curry dressing that put it over the top. I like curry.



This was the night Lars wanted me to eat traditional Swedish food. Herring, herring, a potato, and looks like more herring. Ahh raw fish in cream sauce. Oh and don't forget the boiled egg topped off with some tubed caviar. MMMM, I'm licking my chops right now.



I drank a few of these big boxes of juice. Sorry Lars.



Probably the most delicious bacon burger I've ever had from some little roadside stand in Strängnäs.



Oh and no cereal. Just porridge, like Goldilocks. Or maybe Papa Bear would be more appropriate.

Now I'm hungry.

Magic Bullet Margaritas

Is this despicable or what?



Despicably delicious!

Very Green

Had another on of those days Tuesday, where we drive around, seemingly nowhere, stumble across burnt/torn down houses, establish a perimeter, explore, and make up stories about the people who may have once lived there. Don't you do that too?








When we finally got home it was so nice out that we decided to have a picnic. That picnic turned into a 2 hour grass nap. What can you do?