Jason Shmason

"Dance or Die isn't the same without me being too nervous to dance with you."

I sent that to a girl I crushed on for three years before she graduated in '06. She e-mailed me back, we talked about Athens a bit, then about each other, then she gave me her screen name.

She's working as a graphic designer in Columbus and now she wants to meet me for ice cream at Easton.



She says she was too nervous to talk to me, too.

Mom and I drank with Deal's Gone Bad after the show.

It's weird to discuss the current state of Ska music in America with someone.

No one ever wants to talk Ska.

Dad and I hung out yesterday. We went to visit Grandma which was kind of depressing.

She can't see, so you have to put food in her hand for her to eat. She also doesn't remember that Dad and I were there then left and came back fifteen minutes later. And she offered to pay for my schooling because she doesn't remember that I'm in the military. She dictated a letter to me while I was in Georgia...

Anyway, it made her happy that we were there even if she may not remember it.

We went to cut wood for Uncle Scott, but no one was home over there. Dad decided to take a long drive through parts of the valley I haven't been to. I guess he used to ride his bike through there all the time. He also showed me Grandpa Wright's favorite spot in the park.

Hearing about Grandpa Wright is kind of like a ghost story. The man died in the '70s, so I know almost nothing about him.

We were originally going to Sokolowski's for dinner with Lois, but they're closed week nights. We finished up with Chipotle for dinner.

I met up with SG, JZ, Marty K., and Geoff for some Moon Risk. I actually came in third after having no real strategy. Everyone left Geoff alone on the Moon for four straight years. Probably a bad decision.

I found out Kati and Madison were at the same bar through a series of texts, so I headed up to the Sloane after five hours of Risk.

Kati: "I think your friend Madison is at the same bar as me."
Me: "Which bar?"
Kati: "The Sloane."
Me: "That'd be her. Her Dad owns the place."
Kati: "Go figure."

Madison was hanging out with a Marine named Josh and it was nice to be around someone with shorter hair than me at a bar. Kati was cool for the ten minutes we talked, but I could tell Madison was on edge just in case. Hey, it's been three years, people can change...

Madison and I both got "Labyrinth" for Christmas. She's also been playing GHIII on Wii, but won't leave easy mode.

I'm going to see Mustard Plug with Mom and Allister tonight (new ska comps from Jump Up! records, wooo), so hopefully the crowd won't piss me off too much. And I'll see if my streak of not being killed by Mr. SMiley continues.

Lauren D. and I are meeting at Melt for lunch today. I haven't seen her since June. I need to see Corey and Marcos this weekend, too.

$163.00 worth of comic books.

It's time to catch up.

The past four days were great. I'm excited about my new cook book, too.

It was great to see most of my family. It was also good to meet Comrade's.

Hang outs with Marcos and Lauren D. should be happening soon.

Yes, I really do want to go back to Athens.

It's not like my family wants me to be at home and I could get the same degree and job here or anything...

I went on a Dali Llamas kind of shopping spree. Mom let me use her car while she was at work.

I bought clothes in real stores. It was weird - Sears, H&M, Journey's, Urban Outfitters, and Macy's. I ended the trip with Flower Child and Value World just to feel like I tried saving money.

It was mainly because all my dress clothes are in Athens and I needed to round up some Christmas presents anyway. I also had to buy a pair of jeans because one of my favorite pairs ripped open whil I was getting in the car. I had about 18 square inches of blue boxer-briefed butt cheek exposed.

And then Rock Band came. I can't wait to download "My Sharona." I love the drums and guitar solo in that song.

Dad and I are meeting up for lunch tomorrow. SFC Campbell should've started the processing on my signing bonus today.

I went to the wrestling meet and my coaches were glad to see me. I was even invited to coach the youth wrestling program. I actually would like to do that, but I'm rarely ever in Lakewood. I should go in and help with a few morning practices while LHS is on break.

And they're still talking about how I accidentally broke Coach Duffey's jaw.

I actually won a game of Moon Risk tonight. But that's only because Geoff flipped the table over and declared me the winner.

I have to get the Tempo tomorrow. That and call my land lord.

Geoff and I cleaned his room then played WarioWare with Emily.

I also saw D. Shaw for the first time since he went to Japan for a year.

I think it's great that I haven' seen Geoff since August yet we fell right back into our flow of being lazy, making ridiculous plans, and getting shit done. The dude is getting ready to leave Athens and move out of his mom's house.

I'm getting ready to go back to school and raise up a 2.6 GPA and double-major and then probably not even use my degree other than to qualify me for volunteer jobs.

National Park Service is the ideal.

I'm working on a new mix CD based off all the albums I bought while I was away. I need to finish ripping them first.

I saved all of my receipts and will be making a breakdown of how much money I spent while I was away. I blew an entire month's worth of pay to keep myself sane. How much on books? How much on DVDs? Did I eat $100 worth of pizza?

I don't know what to get Dad for Christmas, but I think I have everyone else covered. I can't say more about that because I don't know who all reads this.

The next five days are going to be busy. I'm going to a party at LoAnn's on Saturday, a wedding near Toledo on Sunday, party at Papa's Monday, then another party at Aunt Lois' on Tuesday.

Oh, and I'm going to an LHS Wrestling tri-meet tonight. It starts at six, but try matches can go past 11PM. I just want to talk to Coach Curiale and thank him for pushing me when I was younger. I thought about wrestling a lot when we were getting smoked during basic. "We used to do this every day and it paid off. You're getting paid to work out here."

Anyone who wants to know about my Army experiences can come over and watch the DVD sometime. I can be seen firing a SAW and throwing practice grenades. Everything else can be summed up with, "a wrong minority ruined it for the right majority."

Well, hey, I graduated from AIT. I even picked up an Army Achievement Medal, a Certificate of Achievement from the Quartermaster General, and a Certificate of Appreciation from Bravo Company along the way.

I spent two weeks as Student 1st Sergeant, meaning I had to keep track of nearly two-hundred soldiers and their supply of toilet paper.

I was distinguished honor graduate with the highest GPA out of 180 soldiers and marines.

I may have to drive to Athens this weke and I don't have my house key. I have to call SFC Campbell and see when I need to turn in my thick ass packet.

I just remembered I have my fucking Goonies Copper Bones replica waiting for me. Don't be surprised if I start saying "Chester Copperpot" a lot. Anything to replace "hooah" in my vocabulary.

I have so many people and places to visit. So many comic books to read, too.

My winter quarter schedule includes Environmental Geography, Intro to Ethics, Economy of the Environment, and History of Traditional Japan. I'm going to get my skates sharpened and return to Splatitude, too.

I miss my cats.

All I really want now is a Dead Guy and some pierogis.

Oh, hey. I'm still alive.

Fort Lee is lame as hell but that's no surprise. I'm graduating any time between 13 Dec and 18 Dec, because they don't tell us much of anything here.

I most likely won't be home for Thanksgiving.

Here's my current address:
PFC Wright, Jason R.
Bravo Co. 266th QM
901 13th Street
Fort Lee, VA 23801

My cooking classes are fun. I've been learning from Marines, and GySgt Walker is still challenging me to a karaoke contest. Unfortunately, class is only 6 hours out of the day. The rest of my time is spent giving "one-hundred percent" false-motivation, carrying a weapon, and debating whether or not to beat my head against the wall (which I did plenty of Saturday morning).

At least we won the title of "honor company." That just means our shit is cleaner than HHC, Papa, and Tango's.

Hey, Athens, stop sounding so stressed and depressed. And me leaving wasn't supposed to start a trend of everyone else leaving. At least wait until the summer.

I tell myself everyday that it's only one more month. Big party in December, I promise.

I'm supposed to dance again tonight. $2 at the R&R is nothing compared to $2 at The Union.

Jeebus, it's been a long eight weeks. BCT was definitely the weirdest situation I've ever been through.

I can't wait to have four walls with only me sleeping within them. I lived with 47 too many guys for too long. The overall level of maturity was very disappointing.

Anyway, I'm done with that crap and am transferring to Ft. Lee, VA to start Army Culinary School tonight. That should be fun. I get to drive trucks or jeeps, too.

I'm just rotting at the Atlanta USO right now. I missed the internet, caught up on facebook, myspace, lj, and junk food a bit.

I know a lot of people think I'm crazy or whatever for joining the military, but i really has helped me.

Three months without drinking hasn't been too bad.

Major Life Goal Complete: Credit Card paid off as of ten minutes ago. $1,886.39, whew.

The amazing part is that wasn't even half of my bank account. It feels great to pay that with money I earned and to finally own my D-SLR.

Whoever said they were going to fill up my voicemail box failed miserably. I only had three messages.

Thanks to everyone who wrote me. I know understand how important letters can be. I cheated the system by having Dad send me newspaper articles.

I spent $50 on magazines, because it's amazing to be able to read them again. All I could read at Basic was our training manual and the Buddhism book Mom sent me. Ask me about first aid sometime.

I don't know if Ft. Lee will let me keep my laptop, but I should at least get to keep my phone.

I miss all my dirty dudes and lovely ladies. I think about you guys all the time. I miss the jams from ACRN, too.

Here's hoping I start sleeping better. I wake up all the time either from nightmares or having to piss, and that doesn't include sleep loss due to guard duty. Five hours of sleep is a long night during BCT.

Don't ever drink 12 quarts of water in one day. You might just piss your bed.

My new address will be sent around next week. Everyone hope that I finish training before December 15 and won't have to go back in January. I need to get back to taking classes.

Hey, I ship out tomorrow, and will be off the internet until November.

I don't know if I'll be coming back to lj at that point. No big deal.

Send me some messages on facebook in the meantime. ACRN will have my contact info if you'd like to send me letters.

The Toronto trip is coming to an end. what a shame.

Last update was a week ago? Ho wells.

I think my online D&D game has died. The DM hasn't been posting much lately and most of what he does post is a dragon killing the party.

:sigh:

EDIT: It's official. The thread was closed this morning. Anyone else want to play?

Chicago ended on a down note when Ty and I went to the worst house show ever. I'm talking worse than when Lee Sacket broke my bass because I was too drunk to put it away properly. We were in the Chicgao equivalent of the Tower only they kept stopping the bands from playing and all anyone there wanted to talk about was cigarettes. We weren't even sure if Dan Deacon was still there by the time we left.

The remaining time in Athens was pretty mellow. I cleaned up the house a lot more and my room will soon be done as well. I wound up being way drunk Friday night, because I went to the Cat's Eye with Jared and all of his friends were suddenly my friends, too. I'm glad I made the right choice and walked, a $10 parking ticket was worth being safe.

More LEGOs came in the mail for me. Friendly gifts ares nice. I also have my computer working properly again (need good desktop wallpaper).

My toe that was infected in January is ingrown and infected now. I spent about two hours in "faster care" yesterday hen saw a doctor for all of five minutes. He was all "Augmentin, Motrin, Vicodin, and a podiatrist reference," and disappeared. I didn't have the Vicodin filled since it's not painful, and I don't want to be taking narcotics (documented or not) two weeks before I ship out.

I watched "Home Alone" with Geoff, Fark, Marty K., and SG, the rotted at Geoff's for a bit. I think he's the only person still openly</i. against me shipping out. I got to hear the rough cut of the new TQA album, too. I'm supposed to be working with Papa today, but he never showed up. I'll take laundry and working out to "Die Hard with a Vengeance" as a nice plan B. If only I didn't have to wait until 2PM for that podiatrist's office to open. I'm reading "Catch 22" and I like it a lot. I'm going to cut my hair now.

I wound up by myself since I didn't have a Pitchfork pass, so I wound up walking down State for about an hour, past IIT and some other crap before hopping a bus to the Magnificent Mile. I picked up the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players' live DVD from the Virgin Megastore closing, and three small sets from the LEGO store.
I also found a decent map yesterday, and left at 5:30 to get to the Folk and Blues Festival since I found out the place is in the North 4500's. I didn't know where that would be, so wound up one three busses and one train before getting there an hour later. I had two pieces of pizza then had no problem getting to the front since most attendees were content to sit.

The Knitters were amazing.

The I somehow wound up finding a train going back to the Loop on Irving Park in under 10 minutes. Bro, Ty, Schaaf, Hayes, and Hertel were all waiting on pizza and wings when I returned. We watched Mr. Show while people nodded off. Bro wound up spending the night, and Andie made it to the Hostel around 2. Wish I could remember what I dream about last night.

Today will be dinosaurs at the Field, Chinatown festival (lion parade), Pitchfork courtesy of Brostrander's +1, and hopefully the arcade on Belmont.

No sign of Smoking Popes or Troubled Hubble vinyl so far. Apparently the bins at Pitchfork aren't organized well.

I'm ready to ship out.

Yesterday morning started with a Jen-led tour through the Pilsen district with several Europeans and a woman from Korea. We stopped at a Polish built church, saw a graffiti mural dedicated to "The Warriors," ate at a Mexican restaurant, and visited a Mexican cultural art museum. It was pretty nice, even though Vaughn said we're brave for going through that area.
Ty and I wound up helping the Korean woman get back to the hostel. She's a science grad student of some sort and decided to learn English
Ty and I headed to Wicker Park next to visit Reckless Records. I snagged The Exploding Hearts' "Guitar Romantic" LP, The Pietasters' "1992-1996" 3-disc set, and the "We're All Devo" VHS. We then walked a serious distance to Permanent Wax only to find them closed 3 hours early for Pitchfork. Luckily, there was a comic book store across the street where it turns out their clerk knows a relative of someone from Universe (he knew about the fire when I mentioned Athens). I found some titles I dind't know where out, back issues I didn't find in Cleveland, and "Tek Jansen" #1.
A "designer toy" store was just down the street, so I also snagged some Kid Robot items.
We watched most of Ghostbusters and did some internetting afterward, then headed out to the Empty Bottle. A pair of girls followed us off the bus to ask for directions back to Linkin Park, but we didn't have our CTA map with us (this is important, trust me). We got to the club in time to have a drink before Gravy Train!!!! started. Shiner Bock on tap!
GT was of course insane in fishnets, gold, and leopard print. They mainly played new songs (album out this week I guess), and said it was their first 21+ show. It was also the first time I'd seen a naked man since I stopped wrestling.
The fun part was that the show ended late enough for us to miss the last pink train back to the Loop. We spoke to a CTA worked and he told us we could either walk to a bus stop or go West to the end of the line and catch the bus back. He recommended the train since there were "gang-bangers out on a Friday night and anything could happen."
So yeah, we went to the end, waited 20 minutes for the bus to get back, and wound up disoriented several blocks down State than we'd been before. A hotel clerk told us how to get to Congress, and we made it back about 3:30. Yeah, a two hour trip back from the bar.
That doesn't make us feel so bad about Chromeo being sold out since it'd involve the same mess getting back.

I'll probably hit up the LEGO store this afternoon and just wander the Miracle Mile, then I'm going to see The Knitters at the Folk Festival.
The weather has been very nice this week, and I'm quite pleased.

Hmm, works calling me at 6PM...
Josh: "Hey Mad Dawg, where are you?"
Me: "Illinois."
Josh: "Illinois! What's up with that?"
Me: "I talked to Jared and he told me not to worry about subs since we usually send people home anyway."
Josh: "Well, when are you going to be back?"
"Tuesday."
"Oh shit -- okay, peace out then."

Birthday Suits and hanging with Matt Gunshy was great. I missed Brian. Gravy Train!!! tonight, The Knitters tomorrow. Took a tour of the Mexican district led by Jen today, and ran into Suzy from psych 111 on the L.

Four days of Splatitude left. Daft Punk August fourth. Life is good.

Drank two PBRs last night, which is much better than my birthday. Birthday was double White Russian, Tom Collins, Chadranade (from Hertel), Tiger, and a Pineapple Upsidedown Cake shot. Two AM wasn't the best time to be taking phone calls...

I pre-ordered this from Mezco Toys today. It's a 1:1 resin reproduction exclusive to two comic cons this summer. It was under $30 including shipping, so I think that's pretty sweet.

They also have figures for Mikey, Data, Chunk, Mouth, and Sloth coming out, and a 12" talking Sloth. The Goonies' 20th anniversary came and went without any recognition, so Mezco is just doing this because they know people love the film. I think that's awesome.