Frat Boy Antics

UMass homecoming is right around the corner and that means one thing for me. Drunk weekend with the brothers. I miss the good ol’ days of doing nothing, drinking a lot, and playing wiffle ball.

First off I want to clear the air on any preconceived ideas about what frats are like. I’m sorry if you had a bad experience at once, just remember, ever frat is different. Our frat for example went from 4 members in ’04’ to 20 by ’06’. We were very proud of our small numbers. Furthermore, we were all geeks. Well, geeks in the sense that we were all either comp sci or marketing majors in some form or another.

In ’06’ we acquired a full size frat house. 16 bedrooms, 4 living rooms, 2 basement rooms and 2 bathrooms. Well the 2 bathrooms part kind of sucked. There was only one shower …. and it was open….. that got interesting.

Best part about this frat house, I was president. I had the biggest room in the house. Next best part? I wasn’t even in school. I had dropped out after my freshman year and had been living in a frat house through what would have been my senior year. I think it’s the best thing that could have happened to me.

After I dropped out I began teaching as an interactive web and animation teacher. The time off from school gave me all the time in the world to prepare lectures and research new trends. I think those 3 years out of school were the most learning I had done my whole life. Once I took off the filter that is “curriculum” I began to learn more about the stuff that really interested in me.

Granted …. I was very on productive during this time. I was always broke and relied on food that was given to me. Everyone used to hang out in my room because of my SWEET SETUP, so there were always leftovers. I was very skinny back then, lol.

So looking back, I miss it. I learned so much during that time and had so much fun. That frat was the worst and best thing to ever happen to me.

Good Cop Bad Cop

This weekend was alot of fun. A friend of mine just moved to Boston so he had a little housewarming party. The party wasn’t too big…. I’d say about 15 of us at its peak. Nothing to big, just some beer pong and snacks.

Well, apparently we were being a little loud because at about 930 the cops stroll in. To make this easier to follow i’ll break it down to good cop and bad cop.

Bad Cop: “What do we have here … a college party”

Alot of us already graduated and probobly make more than this guy does for a living…. but we kept our mouths shut.

Bad Cop: “Who here is under 21”

The three youngins step forward

Bad Cop: “I need the lease owners outside, NOW!”

So we stand there as our friend proceeds outisde and the other cop stays in with us.

Good Cop: “Sorry guys. If I were in charge I would have just popped my head in and said quiet down. Don’t know how this guy plans on handeling it.”

Good Cop: “What the hell is this?” as he proceeds to pick up a beer off the table.

Me: “It’s some kind of Italian beer, tastes kind of like Dos Equis but a little lighter”

So my friend George looks over at me and goes “Dude shut up he wasn’t asking you”

Good Cop: “Um, Ya I was. You think because I’m a cop I don’t drink? You need to calm down a little there buddy, it’s going to be okay”

See that’s how it should be. Cops and humans getting along as one. They should just being doing their jobs and not letting it get to their heads. Another thing… they should stop beating people up. I think that about sums it up.

So basically they just told us to turn the music down and the Bad Cop said if he had to come back he was taking people in. Der. It’s people like him that give his proffesion a bad name.

Life's a Game, Play It Well

I haven’t decided whether I just can’t take being told im wrong about something or if other people have a hard time justifying their arguments. I feel like ad hominem’s have become legitimate forms of argument. Maybe I should put it on myself to stop getting into it with people. Maybe some people just don’t care as much as I do. Shit, maybe it’s MY PROBLEM.

I’m not going to start getting a “cuz I said so” type of attitude. But maybe just start throwing in the white flag and giving a sarcastic “fine you win”. I tend to get riled up pretty easily.

I just love rational argument; going against the grain and the meaning of life. LOVE IT. If anything, the meaning of life is in figuring it out. We’ve got brains, lets challenge each other.

I guess that would mean that the meaning of life is competition. We do it our whole lives…. video games, sports, school, work, conversation.

But maybe Im just a competitive self absorbed know it all. Either way I’m having a good time.

So the name of the game is “Survival”, the game board is our universe and we are the peices. Play to come out on top, whether that means happiness or success.

End of Summer

So I’ve been fretting a little about how I havent really taken advantage of the summer like I wanted to. Well I feel that in the last couple of weeks I have reconciled this concern and am well looking forward to fall. To wrap up the last couple of weeks I’ve:

  • Gone tubing down the saco where we lost all our beer and were forced to ‘jump ship’ and save whatever we could.
  • Got interntionally sloshed at a cabin up in NH
  • Went skinny dipping with some friends in an ice cold river
  • Went boating down river to a beach near my house I never knew existed
  • Enjoyed a beautiful view of the north shore from a rocky coast while some tetrahydrocannabinol eased my mind of any worries
  • Got lost in the middle of the woods at 3AM
  • Went to an Italian festival where a firecracker display almost caught a telephone pole on fire
The whole time I had my Jeep’s top down, seat back.
So like I said…. I’m feeling pretty good about my end of summer horrah.
So how’s everyone else’s summers rounding off?

TV About Life …. and Pot

Favorite TV Station?

Showtime.

Why?

Two shows:

  • Weeds
  • Bullshit

So the problem is I haven’t had showtime since my sophomore year of college…. now about 3 years ago. Yet I have somehow managed to never miss an episode of Weeds and I try to stay on top of my Bullshit.

You may be saying… silly pot head, those are stupid pot head shows. Hold on a minute. Both have received multiple award nominations and touch on a bunch of topics besides drugs that will hit a lot of people close to home.

But lets just say, theoretically, i did smoke pot…. isn’t it bad for me. Well first I would say, go watch Penn and Teller’s Bullshit on the War on Drugs. Then I would tell you this….

At my last doctor’s appointment I was told I had an enlarged heart. At first they thought it was a cardiomyopathy but then I just found out, i have a big heart. Sounds awesome, except blood flows slowly through my body which makes me tired all the time. So i asked the doctor if there is anything I could do to make sure i stay healthy. He said “cut back on the alcohol”… not a problem because I dont drink much to begin with. Then I asked, well what about smoking …. “nope thats fine… you can do that all you want”.

So that’s my story everyone, stay healthy and get Showtime.

Weekend at the cabin

Monday back behind my laptop at work and I can’t get my mind out of New Hampshire. I love weekends up at the cabin. We just drink, drink, play some drinking games, drink and eat food.

So what was on the menu this weekend:

  • Food
    • Lemon peppered shrimp on the BBQ
    • Burgers
    • Hot Dogs
    • Buffalo wings (from scratch)
    • Burger King
  • Drinks
    • Bud Light
    • Miller Light
    • Longhamer IPA
    • Longhamer Summer Ale
    • Longhamer Blonde Ale
    • Longhamer Ale

All in all a great weekend of food and drink. Lots of beirut and some game you play with ski poles, bottles and a frisbee.

However in true fourth of july fashion, the cops yelled at us to stop lighting off fireworks. I may be mistaken but i thought it was legal to light off fireworks on a private beach in new hampshire before 10pm. Oh well, maybe it was.

Punch a Wall, Not a Face

I’m a big kid, well not like fat big, but tall big. I’m 6’4″, give or take a half an inch depending on the time of day.

I’ve been lucky in the grand scheme of things I guess in that I’ve never had anyone confront me, ever. No one has has ever tried to push me around, throw a punch, make fun of me, etc. Basically, I’ve never been in a fight.

This is a good thing as I think fighting is for little kids. If you’ve got a problem with me you can’t articulate into words, once again, your not worth my time.

I got a phone call from my sister last night around 2am. She was all excited and goes:

Guess what, I just got into a fight. Some girl who stole some money from my friend showed up so I punched her and we went at it.

Bravo, you have officially accomplished nothing. Did you get the money back? No. Did her and her friends call the cops on you? Yes.

I have no problem with justice and I’m sure there will come a time when I might have to fight my way out of a situation. But maybe its my inner Buddha saying “Jon it’s harder to forgive than to be angry”.

So make peace, not war. Everyone has their issues. Breaking someones nose isn’t making any one’s day brighter.

The next time someone tries to push you around, just back off, and put yourself in their shoes for a second. What kind of fucked up life do they have that ultimately made them who they are. Just feel sorry for them and move on with your day.

Happy 4th of July… I hope

Me and some friends drove up to New Hampshire today to buy some fireworks for our 4th of July and I began to reminisce of 4th of July pasts.

July 3rd 2007

Danvers, MA has some of the best fireworks in Eastern, MA the day before July 4th. I’ve been going to them for years. Well last year I met up with some old friend and their families, and some drunk dude started mouthing off to my friends older sister. Things escalated and we had me and 3 friends ready to fight this 1 drunk ‘tough guy’. Finally a cop came along and ended up chasing and tackling the guy to the ground.

July 4th 2006

Me and my friend Amy were at a nearby park with my ex girlfriend and her boyfriend. There was much tension in the air and somehow I ended up carrying the beer for my ex in her old backpack in a park heavily monitored by the police (Note: I was 20 at the time). Well my ex decided it would be a good idea to sneak into a fenced off area in front of some cops so of course we were confronted and I was the one holding the beer. Luckily I got off however my ex had the nerve to yell at me for putting the beer cans the cops had me empty back into her backpack.

July 4th 2005

I went down to Florida with my family and my cousins bought a SHITLOAD of fireworks. Long story short on this one, don’t put mortars and repeaters on the same plank of wood in a small back yard. Mortar went off and knocked over the repeaters and we have a made for TV video of epic pandemonium as 50 flares are shot in our direction in a slur of whistles explosions and smoke.

July 3rd 2004

This is my worst one yet. A friend of mine invited me to a BBQ that one of his high school friends was throwing. He had bought a keg and there were only about 22 of us in attendance. Well, at around 11:30 the cops coming busting into the backyard with guns drawn, a drug dog, and a video camera. It was a raid. Turns out the kid throwing the party was on probation and the party was a small violation of that probation. To make matters worse, the town we were in, Hamiltion MA, to put it nicely, SUCKS. So they decide to make an example and they arrest all 22 of us. They had to split us into to groups because the couldn’t fit us into all the cells. I was in my cell from midnight until 7am. This was my only run in with the law up to this point and even to this day however I will never forget it. The one thing that really sticks out in my mind are the first words the cop yelled to me… “DROP THE CHICKEN WING”.

My social slump

Living out in Amherst at UMass had to of been some of the best times I’ve had so far in this 22 year span I’ve called my life. I was president of a 16 room frat house with parties every weekend and people hanging out in my room 24/7.

Now, I’ve been living at my moms for the last 6 months, 45 minutes away from all of my friends, and i work from 9AM to 6PM every day. So in a nutshell, I’m going insane.

I’ve just got myself out of credit card debt. Stupid credit cards! And im finally looking at my own place closer to my friends (and the beach).

So now to begin part deux of my social life. My plan is to change my hours to 8-5 so i could get out earlier and possibly go out after work. Definately hoping to maybe meet someone now, I might be off my game, but I guess we’ll see.