Pad Thai, Pit Bulls, New Bikes and Good People

Yesterday I headed up to Harlem to pay Ezra a long overdue visit. He said to come around lunch time, which usually means he has something up his sleeve. I brought my Fuji up so he could give me some pointers on how to care for my poorly maintained bicycle. When I got there he was doing ome final adjustments on Hillary's new getter/back-to-school/business-class bike. While lunch cooked we wall went outside to see how Hil's new bike rode. Ezra builds what are arguably the most aesthetically beautiful custom bikes out there. Minimalism and functionality all the way. We all took a spin on it and agreed it was smooth as silk. Ezra wanted to make sure that the grocery rack was going to be bombproof so he decided that Hil should probably sit on it and they both take it for a spin.

As expected, it held.

We spent the rest of the afternoon eating Pad Thai (the man can cook as well as he can weld), playing with Putney Sue, cleaning the shop and talking around the dinner table while Hil made cookies.

It was a good day

It has been quite cold here in the North. The temperature has been below freezing for over two weeks now. It has snowed 6 times. I think the boots I bought last year are finally broken in. I have also learned the importance of long underwear.



I have been working a ton, hoping to make some confetti before school starts so that I am not completely worn thin for rent money. So Elle and I have been eating in. Baking in, too. And going to open bars.

Dil-Bt came up. Good seeing the man himself in the 'Hood.

I used to be very optimistc, angry, and outspoken. I had what I thought were formed ideals. They oscillated wildly around the idea of "compassion" or "unity." I used to believe Rousseau's idea that humans were inherently "Noble Beasts." Nowadays I am kind of an asshole. I think people are terrible. Maybe I have been mislead. Maybe I have finally seen things clearly. I don't know. But, those ideas had a soundtrack and I do know that the music I used to listen to had something to it. It was beautiful and angry and loud. The shows we went to were smoky and small and a lot of times they got canceled or bands never showed up or their vans flipped. Punk rock was still alive. And maybe it still is today.

Here is a quick tribute to my generation's hardcore and punk rock scene.

Good Riddance

The New Good Riddance band Only Crime

Ignite

Strife

Kid Dynamite

Bane

I was searching for Stretch Arm Strong clip for this post and cme upon a show that I attended. If you look close I am up front, getting the mic shoved in my face and singing along. I was 17. Steve Boomhower and I drove over to Melbourne in my Toyota pickup. We surfed all morning and then met the Stretch Arm Strong guys before the show. I was pretty good friends with the guitarist, David at the time. He surfed and was super jealous of our session. Seeing this blew my mind.

Our Band Could Be Your Life

"People you can build dreams with."

Lemons Grow Better in the Florida Sun

Yep, sadly we decided Lemon would be better off at my pop's and sis' in FL for the semester. I am taking a billion credits and hoping to do an internship with a few prospective magazines. I didn't think Lemon would get the attention she needs and at time might deserve. Kayla said she (Lem) was sad after we left, that she (Lemon) would run out to the rompin room and jump on our beds and whine and whine. Yesterday I talked to her (Kay) and she said she (Lem) was fine and I could hear her (Lem) in the background growling as she played tug-of-war with Kay and her new tennis-ball-rope-combo.

No Title

It is snowing in New York. I am sick, or getting sick. I don't feel good, that's what I'm getting at. Lately it is hard for me to save face and carry on as the optimistic, jovial person I think people see me as. Maybe it is a funk. Lately I have been seeing things really clear, though. I have been reading a lot. I've been thinking about D F Wallace too. He used to have a quote pinned to his wall--from Kafka, I think--that said: The Disease Was Life Itself. That thought kinda shook me up.

Back in BK

We are home. We left Thursday around 8, drove to Virginia, slept and ate lunch at my Grandmas and then drove the rest of the way. We got stoned and Pete and I both stood on the edge of madness for several hours, monitoring the beats of our hearts and trying to quiet our brains. Life is big and strange and empty. We just drove most of the eastern coast of this great nation and for the most part all I remember are gas stations, billboards for porcelain dolls or South of the Border, and a whole shit-ton of McDonalds. Road trips like this remind me why I love reading On The Road over and over again. That book is all motion and fire and real human discussion with the narrator. It would be hard to do that now without ignoring the fact that as you drive anywhere in this great land you are constantly being shouted at from billboards, taunted by the suggestions presented as necessary purchases. When you make a mental point to notice how often we are presented with opportunities to spend money, how often we are told by advertisements what will make us feel better at that moment, the reality of it is scary and dark and menacing. The landscape of America is one giant advertisement for fucking cheeseburgers.

Surf Reports

1: There's waves. It looks fun
2: It's flat, go back to sleep.
3: It's small but it looks super fun for a longboard
4: Dude, it's flat.

Fuuuucccckkkk!

1 year.

I have lived in New York for one year now. That is the longest I have ever been away from Nokomis. In October of 2007 I was dating a girl from Canada and planning on going to Flagler in St. Augustine. Then Larry Mayo invited me to New York for a long weekend. I spent a little over 24 hours in the City, staying at Lars' loft in SoHo, and knew that I had to move there. I got back, applied to every good school in the City and waited. I was still writing for the Sarasota Herald then, making decent money and enjoying the title of "journalist." My acceptance letter came while I was covering a holiday concert at a retirement home in Venice. I broke up with the girl, lost most of my friends and talked my brother into driving me up. That was a year ago.

Since then I feel like I have changed in a million ways. But, after coming home and spending time here again, I feel very much like the same person. This is good and bad. I am still gregarious, though not to the same level I used to be. I still try to please everyone, though not as much, I hope. But, I feel like a little more of an asshole now. And that's good.
In the next year I will graduate from College and apply to graduate school. I will spend the summer somewhere quiet and bright or cold and dark with Elle and try to write something worth enclosing in the applications to several Ivy League schools.

I guess the point of this ramble is to say that we all have the ability to move on. The only thing that holds us down is us, our fears and uncertainties. I have always preached the virtue of remaining uncomfortable, of always moving forward and not settling down, but have rarely practiced it. New York was my step in that direction and it has been a very affirming experience.

If you are unhappy where you are, pick up and leave. Break up with your boyfriend or girlfriend. Blow off your credit card debts. Take out a student loan or sell all the shit you really don't need. Get on a plane. Move somewhere that you have never been where nobody knows you. Start over. We only have one life, but within that life are a million chances to turn it around.

In the words of GB:

Yesterday you were on my back just to get my time.
I guess it's not as precious as it seems.
Because I found the time for hangin out and talkin on the phone.
What should i expect, now that my time is free and you're nowhere to be found.
Next time i'll try, for the first time in my life.
It won't pass me by.
Procrastinate it can wait, i put it off. let's start today my room's a mess and i can't get dressed.
I gotta be out by eight o'clock.
Deep inside i know the answer.
Well there's no time like the present and i'd like to hang out but who doesn't.
I've made enough mistakes for this lifetime.
Now i'm here to make amends.
Next time i'll try, for the first time in my life.
It won't pass me by.
Procrastinate it can wait, i put it off. start!

That's a Good Point!

Dialogue of the Day:
Ashton: Want to go to Goodwill?
Pete: Jesus Christ, I just want to go home. I've been sitting in the fucking car all day. You guys take forever. Fucking picking out a stupid dog toy for twenty-fucking minutes!
Jack: You gotta sit somewhere.
Pete: I'd rather sit in the fucking electric chair.
Jack: What?
Pete: Electric chair
Jack: I don't get your point
Pete: Electric chair. That's the fucking point.

A Holiday In The Sun

Besides my Pops and Sis, the friends we have been breaking it down with, and the water, I will miss this place:



Publix Top Ten:

1. Publix Subs
(Sub-List: Top 3 Publix Subs)
-----1.Chicken Tenders with Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce and Cheddar Cheese
-----2.Honey Glazed Ham with Swiss on Sunflower bread.
-----3.Cuban Sub with Cheddar
2. Fried Chicken (mixed bucket)
3. Southern Style Potato Salad
4. Tons of affordable Organic Produce
5. Publix "Greenwise" Organic Products (Napkins, Milk, Eggs, Oatmeal)
6. The old men that work there (sometimes the old women, too, but they can be bitchy)
7. The 14 year old kids that work there (Pete, Jarod and I did our time there and Justin, the second generation, was the employee of the month).
8. Apple Fritters/Croissant Donuts (the first is for Pete, the second me).
9. Pops'n'Sis knowing every single person that works there and every person shopping.
10. The fact that they know the place so well but never eat anything except Amy's meals and Morningstar Farms products. Oh, and Macaroni and Cheese. But it's organic!

Hunger Artists

Our visit home is coming to an end. The departure date is still up for debate, but we all have to be back by Saturday and we are expected to stop by our Grandmother's in Virginia on the way up. We are banking on getting some waves on Tuesday and Wednesday, so Wednesday night is looking like the time to leave.

It has been a good trip. As much as Pete, Jack and I will complain about the terrifying reality we were faced with, coming in contact with people from our not-so-distant past, we have gotten a lot out of this trip. Winston and Cavin hung out with us and it is always a good time when the five of us are together. I have known Winston since I was 7 or 8. He is a great dude and well on his way to being Lemon's veterinarian. Cavin has been working on video stuff here, mainly stuff for his younger brother, Tayler "Termite". His work is really fucking good. He has a vimeo profile that I don't know how to link to, but check it out: Cavin Brothers or color blind media.

Winston just called from the road. He's heading back to Auburn. We agreed that hanging out the last week or so has been the best winter brek we can remember. He swears he is coming up to The City to visit. God help his parent's if Winston gets the idea to move up there.

Here is a quick wrap-up of our break:

1. Christmas was rad.
2. Elle came and met the fam, went swimming, and flew back to NY. I will not elaborate as it will only make me lonelier.
3. New Years eve we got wasted and broke most of downtown Sarasota's lawn decorations.
4. Skated every park within 50 miles, with the exception of the Sarasota park. Winston thought he broke all of the bones in his body at some point.
5. Got drunk at the Old Venice Pub and felt warm, knowing we could leave and never have to come back to this place.
6. Got stoned and laughed well into the night on several evenings. My Dad said he had never been happier than lying in bed listening to us giggling in the backroom, playing guitar and singing, making fun of each other and playing with the pup.
7. Sat with Kayla and talked with my Grandparents for hours.
8. Went to a hardcore show in Venice, felt old, talked with Boomhower about feeling old, saw Seth Levan--my old roommate I haven't seen in at least 3 years--and felt older, saw my sister's generation and understood why she feels such solitude and loneliness here. Paul and Zach's band Aim at The Kid played and impressed the shit out of me. They publish a small zine in Orlando, rock out, and generally make me feel that everything that comes out of Venice is not necessarily terrible, sometimes it is very good.

We are all hoping for surf now. Today Pete and I are skating again, trying to get it out of our systems as we know how very cold it will be when we get back and neither of us are very good at ice skating.

It is sunny and warm. Today will be a good day.

Peace.