Time Travel (good news everyone!)

Hey folks! I'm happy to report that I heard back from Emerson last week and I was accepted to their Masters program for Film and TV writing. I would like to thank all of you who used their birthday wishes and stray eyelashes to get me into school. I should take SOME credit because I did all the work but the positive energy you guys sent me was amazing. I start classes the 21st of August and I'm nervous as fuck. This means so much to me and I'm going to bust my balls to make sure I get the most out of it. The program is a low-residency one which means I can still work full time. Part of the program takes place in Los Angeles funny enough. The beginning of the second semester I'll be doing a week of TV writing workshops at the LA campus of Emerson College, which is really cool. It's also really fucking funny that I drove all the way to California, hated it (not 100%), came home and decided I needed more school and that school is sending me back. Life is funny that way I guess, keeping yourself open to any experience is the number one thing that keeps it interesting.  In addition to being accepted into college I received a small scholarship, which is pretty cool and I'm really proud of it. More and more and more more writing is in my immediate future and I couldn't be more excited. I will continue the blog throughout college because it will be fun to report the journey and shit. Ok, enough about grad school and the impending student loan debt I'll be in.

YAY ME!

This past week was a drastic pivot from the week before it when nothing seemed to go right. So many awesome things happened in the span of 7 days, I was on cloud nine most of the time. Once I got into school everything seemed perfect or at least covered in pink slime and charged with positive energy (Ghostbusters 2 reference, keep up).

Monday, Summer and I had tickets to see Pulp Fiction at the mighty Coolidge Theater. The 35mm print was great quality (minus the sound sync in the first few minutes) and that was the first time I had seen that movie on the big screen. It was so much fun having those laughs and gasps with a large group of people, especially people who are already big fans of the movie. After the movie I wanted to keep on theme and brought Summer to Tasty Burger, which was named after a scene in Pulp Fiction itself. It even has a mural of Uma Thurman eating a burger on the wall in the downstairs dining area. It sits to the left of the bathrooms with the codes on the door so junkies can't shoot up in the bathroom. At least that's what a waiter told me there once.

The food there is good but the dining experience is less than ideal. After the meal a severely unpleasant conversation transpired and it was very unfortunate but I don't want to get into that. Pulp Fiction was still great and I received my Coolidge Corner Theater membership in the mail the same day! This month they are running a promotion if you sign up for a membership you also get 2 free movie passes. I go to the Coolidge roughly once a week so this was a no-brainer for me.

Yessssss

Oh! I should probably mention that I was NOT fired for the little accident I had at work. You remember, when I crashed into the ceiling like an idiot. I had my fork truck license (temporarily) revoked and I had to retake all my safety training. Today we actually had a meeting discussing the incident since my boss was out last week. Luckily the accident is slowly becoming old news and can be joked about. Thank god I didn't get fired though! Well my job kind of sucks and I have zero room to grow and I'm underutilized and barely appreciated but hey, my boss is cool and it pays the bills so fuck it. Plus the point of higher education is to better yourself and move past jobs of this nature.

This past week I also returned to the felt and started playing poker again. It was a shaky start which resulted in me punching my steering wheel on a few rides home. I've since shook off some of the cobwebs and starting playing a bit better. I realized how much I missed the game itself and it was exiting to be back at the table stacking chips again. My little brother is actually returning to the game as well, which is exciting because he's my poker mentor/hero. This is someone who turned 3k into over a quarter or a million in about a year and a half. He's truly talented and I hope I can keep learning from his boundless poker mind. Also gambling is fun as fuck, firing money into pots and walking home with wads of money, or nothing (hopefully not).

Gambling and fancy drinks

The biggest highlight of the week, minus school news of course was my triumphant return to the Vans Warped Tour. I grew up a Ska/punk kid with a group of friends who all did the same thing. Ethan was the person who got me into that music and he never stopped going to the Warped Tour. I threw the towel in years ago because it was always too damn hot, the crowds were insane and the lineups got less and less appealing. But THIS year was different, my two favorite bands were playing! Less Than Jake AND New Found Glory were set to preform and I wasn't about to miss that. I donned my famous Hawaiian shirt (the one I used to wear all the time in high school) and we headed to the Xfinity Center (formerly the Tweeter center and formally Great Woods).

This shirt

Wednesday was supposed to hit the 90's so I brought a cooler of beer, whisky gingers, Gatorade and water. I also packed 3 outfit changes and a large bottle of sunblock. I don't take too many days off so I really wanted to enjoy myself but didn't want to get drunk enough to forget any performances or dehydrated in the oppressive heat, preparation was the name of the game. We sauntered over to the VIP tent to acquire our wristbands (after I drank a beer then poured a second into a water bottle). At the VIP ticket tent I ran into the girl I dated last summer and it was briefly awkward but recalled all the fun times we had and it quickly became a welcomed reconnection. We strolled into the venue and studied the bands and when they were set to play. All of the bands we wanted to see were all in a row so the stars seemed to be alined.

We had a couple hours to kill before our first desired band so we browsed the merch (this is slang for merchandise) area and got a little food. I bought some amazing shirts (luckily I won at poker the night before) and some other items. During the downtime before my bands were set to play we did some wandering and I ran into my friend Ester (this is a code name to protect my friend's reputation) and Ester was high as fuck on acid and I wished her luck on her scary sounding journey. Ethan and Ray went to watch Mayday Parade (this is a band's name for you folks who don't know) and I went to see my friend Brian's band Cruel Hand and I took a pile of pictures of him bringing the thunder. The first band on the list of acts I wanted to see was set to play, Reel Big Fish. This was the first ska band I ever liked and they have not changed much since I was 14 (I agree it's a little weird). They kept it short and sweet so it was all the good shit.

After the sideburn-sporting time capsules of my youth were done playing a young lady walked passed me and grouped my manhood, looked me dead in the eye and kept walking. This was strange but being an egomaniac and slightly buzzed I took it as a compliment, albeit a fucked up one. After Reel Big Fish and the brief genital handshake New Found Glory was up and they did not disappoint.

The last time I saw these gents they didn't bring the heat I was looking for and they more than made up for it today. I told myself that I wouldn't go anywhere near the stage or the pit due to the heat and my advanced age. Alas they played one of my favorite songs and I made a B-line to the pit then the stage, leaving a wake of weaker concert goers. Oh well! After NFG was done the main event (for me) was about to be unleashed. After having a beer I heard the familiar horns and Less Than (fucking) Jake took the stage and I was on cloud 9. Again I rushed the pit then stage and screamed the words to my favorite songs (at age 32) while Chris and Roger commanded the stage as their adoring fans sang along with them.

I pushed to the front, some people got mad.

I would say the rest of the Warped Tour wasn't worth reporting but I left out a large detail, we met one of the fucking founders of Vans shoes, Paul Van Doren! It just so happened I was wearing Van Doren shoes (a style of Vans). Ray and Ethan spotted him next to the Vans tent and we had to meet him. We talked to him for bit and he could not have been nicer. He signed me and Ethan's shoes and we got a much needed picture with him. He went to shake my hand afterwards and I went straight in for a big hug and thanked him for inspiring my sense of style for the past 15 years. I've LOVED Vans ever since the first time I saw Ethan rocking a pair of checkerboard slip-ons (obligatory part of the ska kid uniform). You can't top meeting a Van's founder so we hit the road and once I was home I got a pizza and almost ate the whole thing, it was an incredible day.

The Van man himself!

I'll never wash these again. ok, I might.

Also I bought this dope shirt.

After the warped tour and getting in to school (sorry for mentioning that so much but I'm excited) it's hard to top things so I won't. Friday night I watched Deadpool, ate pizza, drank a whole mess of whisky and some other lovely things transpired.

Saturday we had softball (I think we won?) then me and Shane watched movies, had pool time (which sucked due to children splashing us). Then we headed to Charile's kitchen to celebrate and I played Queen's "fat bottom girls" three times in a row on the jukebox (no regrets).

Then Shane talked me into breaking into a public pool. Disclaimer, Shane mentioned it and I jumped at the chance to commit a small crime. We put on all the black we could and scoped out the area. No cameras were spotted, exits were planned and fences were climbed. Shane and I hopped in the massive pool and started to swim to the opposite end but were stopped in our aquatic tracks when Shane spotted a bunch of cameras on the side of the building. Shane and I jumped out of the pool and Shane was over the fence before I knew it. I stayed in the pool area because I needed to cannonball the fuck out of this big ass fucking pool. I made Shane watch while I climbed to the top of the lifeguard chair and leaped into the pool as a celebration of my life's impending new chapter and because cannonballs are bad as fuck. As soon as that splash sprayed over the furthest stretches of the pool, I was over the fence and along side Shane to head back into the woods and onto the creepy dark path back to his apartment. Saturday was fun but I was bummed more people didn't want to hang to celebrate my good news. I also realized that over 100 people wished me well after I got into grad school so I wasn't too upset. I was happy to have Shane to get weird and wild and to have a physical celebration of the news cemented in our memories.

That about does it for the past week's shenanigans, good news, Less Than Jake,  crimes committed and uhhhh like other shit. Thanks for reading folks, luckily I kept this post under 4,00 words ( know you're all relieved). See ya next time!

Keep smiling (even when strangers touch your penis and just walk away like a perverted ghost)