Oct 24, 2009

It was a rainy day and not fit for going outside, even with the plans I had to go outside that never came through. I spent the day watching shows and editing some photos. I think I even took a nap at one point. Lame. Anyway, Jamie was taking Nathan to Philly to play a show and she invited me to come with her so I was happy to go somewhere. Once we got to Philly the rain stopped. I love the city after it rains and I got a few cool street shots that I thought I could use for my "memory" project.

Nathan, Jamie and I hung out in the bar for a while, had a drink and listened to The Killer(ish) that were playing in the next room. We watched on the handy monitors. Jenell showed up eventually and we hung out talking for a while until Nathan had to set up.

We all went into the next room of The Fire to watch Raccoon Fighter. I hadn't seen them since they changed their lineup and Nate joined. They were really good.

They had a jazzy feel with a lot of rock on top. What's in a name? I really didn't know what to expect. Racooooooooon Fighter?!

Liam and Me played next and were really good. I always forget how much I like them until I randomly see them somewhere. I need to go to more local shows.

We needed some food around midnight so we went to the South Street Diner to find some. There were veggie burgers, omelets, grilled cheeses x2 and a mystery platter. And they stared at us while we ate. The veggie burger was good though.

After we dropped off Nate, Jenell and John back at The Fire, Jamie and I headed home. It was a much less rainy drive back.

Oct 23, 2009

I worked at Lakeside in a math class this morning, all the while making my plans to go out right after. I had to make some phone calls and make sure we were on the same page and basically right after school it was time to head out.

We went to the Oktoberfest at The Pier at Caesar's. Jeff forgot his ID so he couldn't come in, but he ended up winning some money in the casino, so it wasn't all bad.

We tried beer from a lot of different vendors. There was a lot of bottled beer as opposed to taps like at Beerfest.

It didn't take long before the small amounts of sample beer they gave us added up to a good buzz.

We tried most of the beers once before going back for seconds. There were a few that I knew I liked but I wanted some anyway.

This picture makes me laugh because it looks like I'm really drunk for some reason. I wasn't. Katie may have been but I never felt that drunk. I just enjoyed the beers. Troegs' Dreamweaver was the best, in my opinion.

After the fest was over, we hung out for a short time in the bar with Sam and Jeff before going to The Continental for some food. I got some vegetable dumplings and wasabi mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes were amazing. I would go back just for them. I need to learn how to make them.

Sam and Jeff came to join us for some food after a while. They were whispering about how good Jeff's lobster macaroni and cheese was. I tried some, it's true. It's a really nice place to hang out and have some good food.

Sober once again and full of mashed potatoes and other foods, we headed home while Jeff and Sam stayed to go to the club. Would have been fun..

Oct 22, 2009

I worked the same math class at Lakeside for a second day and the students were somewhat better than the day before. It helps when they know you a little bit.

We had time for a few games of tennis after work. Our games actually lasted really long, I don't know if we got better or we're just equal. Not equal because I didn't win. If we hadn't amended those last games I would have had a chance though....

Later, I picked up Joanna from Rowan and we went to Philly. We got vegan food at Gianna's. I had chili over fried rice that was amazing. She had a BBQ chicken cheesesteak that looked awesome as well. After that we went over to the Bubble House for tea. It was a great night to sit outside so we took advantage of the outdoor tables. Kumquat Kiwi is a pretty good flavor.

We stopped at Drexel to take some shots of these blinking sculptures. It was really cool but you had to be there. You can still go there.. it's on Market Street I think.

We went over by the Art Museum to get some shots of the city and such. Boathouse Row looked pretty nice, as always.

I don't think I've shot the city from this place since the Comcast Tower was finished. It's still a really good spot. We spent quite a while out there, trying to get some shots that worked for "Memory," our next photo assignment. I think I got some.

It was a great night, the weather was awesome and we had fun in the city. And, oh the food.. I want to go back to Gianna's already.

Oct 21, 2009

For the second time in a month, I had to stand outside for about an hour at Lakeside because some moron kid left a bomb threat in a bathroom. They always catch them, especially now that they have cameras everywhere, so why not do something a little more spectacular to get kicked out of school and arrested? Just a suggestion.

I went to Rowan for Digital Photo. It was the worst class ever. We did nothing at all for two hours. We honestly just sat there waiting for one-on-one talks with our professor. After two hours of nothing at all, I just left. I couldn't take it anymore. I went for a drive and listened to music to feel better before my Film Midterm. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. We were supposed to stay and watch Scarface but I couldn't be in class anymore.

I went to the gym and got a pretty good workout in before heading home to run. It was a nice night for running outside. I took a long route and ran through town and back up Cedarville Road all the way behind my house and back around my block once for a total of a little over six miles. I just didn't want to stop running.

It worked out well because Ryan came over and felt like running as well so we did another lap around my block in opposite directions to race. It's almost a mile and I did it in just over seven minutes. We took a walk after the run until we got too cold. I need to do that more often. Having a bad day is good for exercise motivation.

Oct 20, 2009

I didn't work again today, party because of not having a car and partly because I had a paper to write. I put it off until the last minute of course so I had to work on it. I put it off further by playing three games of tennis with Ryan and adding in some mini games to practice serving and returning from in front of the net.

I finally got to work on my paper and it only took me about an hour and a half to write the whole thing. I think it's pretty good. Maybe not great but I think I'll do alright compared to many of the people in my class.

Chuck and I headed to Philly and picked up Katie at Rowan on the way. We walked quickly to the Merriam Theater and sat in our seats literally just as David Cross was walking onto the stage, singing a song about the jokes he would tell. He told some hilarious anecdotes and did some strange, only-sometimes-funny skits. Overall his performance was great, pretty much just what I expected from him. At the end of the show, he showed a five minute clip of the pilot he did for BBC Channel 4. I want to see the rest of that show now.

We went to Maoz and got falafel before heading home. It was a good night and I got my paper in on time. Can't beat that.

Oct 19, 2009

Without a working car, I had to ride my bike to a few places around town so I could take some shots for my photo assignment, ecology. I went to the water tower near the grocery stores and got some shots of it and the barbed wire surrounding it.

I lucked out a second time when I stopped to shoot the lines in the road and found a rose bush with thorns right next to it. It all adds up soon.

Finally, I got some pictures of leaves in my driveway that I think came out pretty great.

I did some work on the images in Photoshop and got Chuck to drop me off at class so I could present my final pieces.

The idea behind these is to show the similarities, aesthetically and functionally, that many artificial things have with natural things. This one works well in both ways.

This one is mostly aesthetic but the veins of a leaf transport nutrients to it (when it's still alive anyway) and the roads we travel get us to the places we need to be so it's possible to see a parallel there also.

I left Photo early so we could get on the road to Lancaster. We were following the sunset most of the way and we got some great views of the colors over the farmland. This is not a perfect representation of that.

We arrived at the Chameleon Club in downtown Lancaster with time to spare. We watched the Title Fight from the balcony above the stage and after a brief break on the balcony, we went downstairs for the main event.

New Found Glory came out to "Understatement" and we moved right up front. The club is so small, I can't believe I've never gone there before.

We were only about ten feet away from the stage at any given time. They played an amazing set full of old and new songs. It was long, too. I think it ended up being about 25 songs!

For the encore, they asked what song off of Nothing Gold Can Stay the crowd would rather hear, "You've Got a Friend in Pennsylvania" or "Passing Time." Chuck has been wanting to hear them play the latter for so long and they always choose the other song. Somehow in all the yelling they decided to play both! And they ended with "Hit or Miss." A great show.

When we left it was only about ten. A very early ending but it worked out since we were far from home. We found our way back to New Jersey and Ryan came over when I got home to go for a walk. It was a chilly, but nice night out.

Oct 18, 2009

Katie came over in the morning and picked me up and we got on the road to D.C. with avocado, lettuce and tomato on bagels. It was a good breakfast.

We got to our train station and took some photos while we waited for our chariot to arrive.

I took photos, anyway. Katie mostly climbed on the escalator.

We went to the Hirshorn Museum first and checked out some of the new things they have there. A lot of interesting sculpture using human form.

There was also an interesting installation in the upper part of the museum that was mainly focused on the use of color. Some of it worked for me but overall I wasn't enthralled.

After walking around the Mall for a short time we decided to find a train to take us to food.

We found an Indian restaurant that sounded good so we made our way there. With lots of walking we arrived and were the only patrons. The food was amazing though and the walls matched my shirt. We spent quite a while there and then decided we should get going.

We stopped for some really good cinnamon spice tea that warmed us on our walk back to the train and we arrived at the Sixth and I Synagogue in time to find our seats before Andrew McMahon came out to his piano. The setting was beautiful.

Andrew played a lot of new Jack's Mannequin songs as well as a bunch of old Something Corporate songs, including a really old one, "Walking By," from which the title of this blog was taken. Just a fun fact.

Ben from Something Corporate played guitar with him on a few songs and did backing vocals. They played one of his songs also which was really good. Andrew was clearly enjoying himself as was everyone else there. It was a great show, he never disappoints.

The drive home wasn't too bad, just expensive. We stopped and got some potato wedges at one point. Probably not a great idea but they were good for a little while. It wasn't as late as I thought it would be when I got home but I was ready for bed anyway.