Jul 16, 2011

I went to my mom's for lunch with her and Larry. She made a summer pasta thing with red peppers and mozzarella. Really good. We spent some time going through the photos from the trip. We looked through them on the big screen since the Wii reads SD cards. Who knew?

I went down to Sam's after a while to join in the BBQ festivities for a little while. She made me a portabello sandwich almost immediately after I got there. We had some great food and I caught up with her, Ali, Jordan, and everyone I haven't seen in a long while.

We got into a game of horseshoes that took quite a while. Somehow Jeff and I won the game though! I got a couple of ringers. It's always so much fun there, I wasn't happy that I had to leave.

I picked up Diana and drove to Baltimore, parked and went over to Mex. The bartender that we had last time I went with Dave was there and remembered me so that was cool. We had some drinks and food and talked to her. She did a shot with us for good measure.

We had some time to kill before the show so we enjoyed our time there. We did another shot before going in. Still not as inebriated as when I drank Dave's wine.

Thursday played first and opened with a new song followed by "For the Workforce, Drowning." It feels like it's been so long since I've heard them play that. It was just nice to not hear all of Full Collapse again!

The set was great and the slideshow was a nice addition. The new songs sound so much better live in my opinion. I just can't get into the vocal effects on the album though the music is great. It fits in just fine live. They closed with "Turnpike Divides" after "Jet Black New Year" and it was a perfect closer. Worth the black eye.

We went out to the bar and got some water in between bands. We came back in as Taking Back Sunday was already playing. If I ever had a problem with them before, it's official: they're back. They are so good live and they play a great set of songs.

I will say that Adam talks so much that they could have played another two or three songs if he would shut up. Otherwise they play a lot of old stuff and the new stuff is so good live as well as on the album. I want to see them again already.

We got some more water after the show and considered what else we could do. We ended up just going home. Baltimore is a fun place to be at night though; I need to stay down there sometime.

Sep 6, 2009

It seemed like a really nice day to get out and do something so Ryan and I decided to get into a game of tennis. We played for quite a while and I feel like we did really well this time, especially compared to the last few times we played. We had quite a few good points and it seemed pretty evenly matched.

I came home and after a while I went to Sam's for her barbecue. I played a really good game of horseshoes with Jimmy so Jeff and I challenged the older guys to a game. It was a really close game and we ended up winning it when I landed a ringer right at the end to edge out the points that they had. It was a great game.

Eating is always the best part of being at Sam's. She made this corn chowder that was amazing. I kept going back for more. The black bean burger was good but the chowder was addicting. I want more right now just thinking about it.

We spent a lot of time playing a game I had never played before called ladder ball... yeah, ladder ball. You throw the tethered balls and try to hook them onto the rungs for points. It might not sound fun but it was awesome. We played until it got too dark to see and then we played some more after that.

There was no wood for the fire so we went scavenging across the street in the lot and got a pile of branches to start us out. We got the fire going and enjoyed the warmth. From a distance.

The time came to bust out Katie's sparklers. Everyone got one but they didn't last for long. They were fun and I almost burnt myself a few times trying to light mine on the fire.

We threw these packets on the fire that change the colors of the flames. I'm not even supposed to be telling you about this because they're Canadian and not legal here.. so shhhh. Good thing nobody reads this. The results were less than spectacular. There were a few times when the flames changed color, prompting "ooh" and "ahh." But that didn't last long. Oh well. Thanks, Canada.

People started leaving and we just relaxed around the fire, drinking and talking about kid's television shows. It was pretty mellow.

The night was a lot of fun, as is always the case when we have a bonfire. It's a good season to have many more of them.

May 23, 2009

I went to Parvin's for a run in the morning. It was pretty hot but the trees provided me some cool shade.

I went to the gym for a bit after running. I need to set up my stuff in the garage so I can stop going.

A little later, I went to Sam's for her barbecue. We had some beers and Sam made her awesome veggie grilled sandwiches.

Katie brought some blueberry oatmeal dessert things. They had some really awesome desserts as well like fruit pizza. Mmm..

Jeff and I took on the old pros at a game of horseshoes.

We lost but it was still a pretty close game.

We mostly just hung out in the shade at the table talking and drinking beer.

When it got dark we started the fire and sat around that doing the same thing for another hour or two.

Another fun bbq at Sam's. I've been to a lot of fires lately.