Feb 19, 2017

I got up a little later than planned of course because I slept at home. I managed to get to French Creek State Park pretty quickly anyway. The disc golf course parking area is closed off in winter so I had to park and walk a bit to find it. I started on hole 18 and eventually found my way to the course. I was not having a good start to the round and it didn't improve all that much. The course feels cramped and tight the whole way, but that could be because I wasn't playing so well. It's not a course I tend to want to return to.

I hurried to Camp Sankanac to get there for doubles at 11:30. Although there were a ton of cars there no one knew about this doubles tournament that supposedly happens weekly. Before several big groups started playing I hopped on and started off on my own. I ended up joining another guy on hole 7 since we were both playing solo and there would be no point trying to pass one another.

The course itself is great. The layout is varied and fun, with all types of shots and lengths. It's challenging but not terribly annoying like French Creek felt. I was glad to have someone to share it with.

When I got back to the first tee there were a bunch of people standing around talking about playing doubles. They asked if I was in so I said yes straightaway and we got to pairing off. The second time around I feel like I didn't shoot quite as well as the first and my partner wasn't a great help at picking up any of my slack. It was still a perfectly beautiful day and a great course to play twice. It was nice to play with a bigger group and get to know some people there. Definitely will be returning to this one.

I decided to go to Tired Hands on my way back to Philly. I sat down next to a guy at the bar and we chatted for a very brief time about nothing of great importance, yet he offered to buy my first beer as he was heading out the door. Really nice guy. I started with the Pink Noise, a raspberry lemon IPA that tasted like grapefruit. I had some good beers and another good conversation with another man that came in and sat on the other side of me. We talked about great beer, photography, travel, and our idiot president. Not a bad night.

It wasn't over yet; I met Christie and Tracy at The Abbaye for dinner where I got my own wings after a full day of salivating about them. We sat outside and enjoyed the nice cool night air with our meal. Since the weather was still nice we finished our beers and walked to Barcade for one more drink before heading over to the Fillmore.

We got inside shortly before Less Than Jake opened with "All My Best Friends are Metalheads" to kick off a really fun set. The place wasn't really packed which made for a nice wide open circle pit to dance in for an hour. I had a really good time and I'm always happy when I get a chance to see them live. It was quite a day and I was happy to get home to bed where I didn't have to set an alarm for the morning.

Jan 20, 2017

I woke up feeling surprisingly good, but I hit construction and got behind a school bus on my way to work at Vineland Memorial so I got there a little late. Luckily I was still very early for the meetings and I had a very easy day where I got a lot of file organization done on my hard drive. The worst part was when I was in for the gym teacher. The classes were huge and incredibly loud.

After being home for a bit and stopping at Becca's for a short time I headed to the Fillmore again for Frank Turner. He started the set with his new song "Sand in the Gears" which is about standing up for what you believe in and fighting back even more for the next four years under the new president who was inaugurated today. It was a perfect day to see Frank and hear that. "Let's be the sand in the gears for the next four years."

The rest of the set was perfect as The Sleeping Souls joined him. As always it was energetic, hilarious, and heartfelt. I was closer to the back of the crowd for the show and halfway through Staci found me so we got to hang out and dance with the one other person in that area that was dancing around having a good time. I always feel great after leaving a Frank Turner show.

Jan 19, 2017

I lay in bed for a while in the morning after waking up early enjoying the morning and watching some shows before finally accepting a job around 9am. I worked at Bacon School in a resource room, and it was an easy day. Dave came over, we picked up Tracy and Christie then met Chuck at Barnes & Noble to head to Barcade. We got some good beers before Tracy and Christie headed to the Fillmore for Anti-Flag.

Dave, Chuck, and I stuck around and played some games and had some more beers. We played Mortal Kombat and Double Dragon, and I played a little Ms. Pac-Man. I drank a couple more beers quickly before leaving and I was feeling good for the Reel Big Fish.

We got into the Fillmore just as the Fish were playing their first song and we headed up front. They played a few songs before getting into playing Turn the Radio Off in its entirety.

Dave and I had a good time dancing for most of the show. I went over and danced with Chuck a little bit on the fringe of the pit. It was an appropriately long set and it was a ton of fun. I really like that they put the full album in the middle of two other little sets.