A Week of Plastic and Paper

Greetings, I hope everyone out there is enjoying Memorial Day. I have had an interesting weekend thus far. Went up to Rob's on Friday thinking that was the day of Johnny D's open house. However, I am retarded and I soon found out it was Saturday. It was nice to get up there though, because Jake E. was at Rob's too, so I got to talk to him for awhile (that hummingbird is the shit, Jake). Anyway, John's mom was staying overnight up there, so he didn't wanna stick around. He came back with me to Hebron. When we got back, we went over to Brandon's house and then ended up in the 4 Seasons a half an hour later. That ended up being boring as hell though so we got back to Hebron around 1-something and crashed.

Saturday morning Johnny and I picked up the 6-foot sub he ordered from Subway. Ya, that thing was frickin' huge! It took up my entire backseat lol. So we got back, the open house started, met some his family, and a bunch of his friends from OD came over. After the open house was over, we went back to Brandon's house for what proved to be a very interesting night. I learned a new game over there which was really crazy, Brandon said we were the first group to ever get through the entire thing, so naturally I was very proud.

Oh yeah, I have 2 frickin' awards ceremonies to go to this week on top of graduation. Thus the title of today's post: A Week of Paper and Plastic. There's a bunch more, but I really don't feel like typing all of it out right now. So laterz~ Rich

"The only good pace is suicide pace, and today's a good day to die."

Steve Prefontaine said that. I followed it: and came up short. In a time of 4:41 (unofficial) I crossed the finish line, good enough for 11th place. My goal was to place much higher and even put myself in the position to qualify for state. In order to do this, it was obvious that I would have to race the first 3 laps harder than I normally would and see what I had after that. I did race the first 3 laps. My splits were 1:05, 1:09, and 1:08; this was putting me on pace to smash my old PR by more than 5 seconds. Sadly, it was on my final lap that my body gave out. I finished the race with a 1:19 gun lap.

There were a number of guys who passed me in the last 100. Was this depressing? No. Unlike many of the people who passed me in the last 100, I had made the decision to see what I was really made of. I pushed myself past my normal limits and came up short. And I'm much more comfortable with myself for having done that than I would have been if I would've run my typical race. Running in high school has been an enjoyable experience and I think I've learned a lot about who I am by doing it. Now I have college to look forward to and goals that I am intent on reaching.

Tomorrow's Johnny D's open house, so I'll probably be headin' up to Valpo. Before I do that, I'll probably just lay around or maybe go the beach to lay around. I now get to start resting for around 2 weeks. It's gonna be weird not running, but my legs need the rest really bad. I would also like to thank those of you who went up to Portage to see me run, that was really really cool. I am very grateful to have friends that do not even think twice about doing such a thing even with everything else that was going on today. So once again, thank you. ~Rich

Regional seeds as follows:

1. Yamtich 4:26.74
2. Koch 4:28.48
3. Santelik 4:28.85
4. Ludwig 4:29.37
5. Willis 4:30.93
6. Hernandez 4:32.72
7. Davies 4:33.21
8. Del Toro 4:33.35
9. Claeys 4:34.57
10. Spicer 4:35.63
11. Hamilton 4:37.74
12. Ferber 4:39.04
13. Johnson 4:39.61
14. Grabarek 4:44.19
15. Dunlap 4:44.91
16. Evans 4:45.88

I'm not satisfied with 12th...........

An end to an era and the beginning of a new dawn (how cliche lol)

I'm done. There is nothing left to do except wait 'til next week. My last day of high school was today. My last track meet is tomorrow. There have been a number of lasts over the past few weeks and it's been kind of weird. So I've still got a few things that I need or want to tell some people that are important to me before I depart from Hebron in the next couple of months, but a few of these things are gonna be kinda hard to say. Really, I don't know if I'm up to saying them. However, if I don't I feel it might be even worse.

Many thoughts swirl in and out of my head right now and I really dunno what to write about because there is so much. I think I'll just leave it off with the lyrics to the song I'm listening to right now. It kinda describes everything right now:

This is my time
This is my tear
I can see clearly now
That this is not a place
For playing solitaire
Tell me where you want me
This is my time
This is my tear

Comin' on strong
Baudelaire
Seems to me like
All the world gets high
When you take a dare
Let it rise before you
This is my time

All in all I'm
Loving every rise and fall
The sun will make and I will take
Breath to be sure of this
In the end
All will be forgiven when
Surrender rises high and I
Gave what I came to give
Say it now because you never know

Devil may cry devil may care
Distiller's got a scream
And now I know just why
When she's movin' air
Can you feel the voltage
This is my time
California skies
Got room to spare
This is my time

Take it outside
Take it out there
Seems to me like
All the world gets high
When you take a dare
In the final moment
This is my time

Say it now because you never know....

"Tear" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

"Are there really 88 of them?" "No, they just think 'The Crazy 88's' sounds cool"

Yesterday was fun and today was not all that bad. Ricky and I went to see Kill Bill Vol. 2 on Sunday. Overall, I'd have to say that the movie kicked major ass (it's a Tarentino film, whadya expect?). The action was a little lacking compared to the first one (still had some really cool fight scenes), but the plot finally does come around fool swing; moreover, the Chinese master guy was frickin' hilarious.

Today was basically a total blowoff. I did absolutely nothing and it felt good. Well I did have to run a workout, but that wasn't too bad... even with having not eaten anything except a Snickers bar. Just two more days, that is all I have left of high school. Not really touchy or emotional about it, mainly cuz I got 5 more years of college after this. However, I am a little bit frantic. I promised to get a bunch of my training philosophies down on paper for a few of the kiddies who are still around for a few more years of high school. So I will hopefully get that finished before the end of next week. Catcha folks later.~ Rich

Mood: blissful / peaceful
Music: "H" by Tool

College Visit

I got back from USI around 8 last night. There is much to talk about involving my stay. First, I stayed in the dorms Friday night. After I got there I took a quick 15 minute jog around campus to loosen my legs from Sectionals the night prior. My roommates were really cool. The coolest were Ra'mon, a basketball player from Jeffersonville, and Aaron from Portage. What was even freakier was that Fonte's friend from KV was staying in the suite right next to mine, so her and 3 other girls came over to our room and stayed there 'til about 12:30. I ended up getting around 4 hours of sleep that night. The next morning (or rather later on that morning seeing as it was already the next day when I fell asleep) I got up at 6 and was hella tired. Unfortunately, I had to take 2 placement tests and I ended up doing terribly on both of them (math and german... go figure). The good news is that I don't have any classes earlier than 9 in the morning and no night classes.

Before I left I also got to talk to Coach Hilyard. He seemed pretty happy about my sectional performance and told me about some of the other guys that are gonna be running next year @ USI. What was even cooler was I saw one of the girls that is an incoming runner. All I can say is wow, I cannot wait to get to college.

Tomorrow I have to run a nifty little workout to try and get my speed down a little bit more before Thursday. It'd be nice to take my mile time down a little bit more. That's all for now. ~ Rich

4:38? Four years ago I would have laughed.....

For those of you disinterested in my running posts: read no further.

I may have run may best race ever earlier tonight. It's funny really. If someone would have told me in my 8th grade or freshmen year that I would have even been #2 on the track or cross-country team and I would have laughed in their face. My high school running career seems like a blur right now. But in all honesty, it's all good. I currently have a shiteating grin on my face, mainly due to the fact that I smashed my mile PR set last week by at least 5 seconds and, in the process, became sectional runner-up in the mile. As much as I would love to take anyone reading this right now through a play-by-play of how the race occured, I really don't think it's necessary. All I will say is that I am finally happy with how I've done overall in high school (athletically) and I look forward to running next Thursday at regionals. Later ~ Rich

"The air in the mountains... where I come from"

Sectionals are tomorrow. I don't want it to be my last high school meet so I'm gonna run my little heart out. I've worked so hard this year, and I feel like I'd be cheating myself if I did not advance to regionals. Plus my mile PR is still way too slow for me to be happy. However, I really don't feel like getting all excited about it right before I go to bed. So I'm gonna talk about something else. I go out to my family reunion June 19th (or somewhere thereabouts). Although the reunion is in Connecticut at my uncle's place I'm hoping that my dad and I will take a few "detours" along the way.... New Hampshire or Vermont, anyone? I've been craving some good scenery ever since we didn't get to go skiing in March. Being out in the mountains truly reminds in the simplest way that there is a God. Nothing else but a higher being could create such immense beauty in such a pure form. There are no cars, no people, and sometimes no sound. And it's when I'm hiking/biking/running through the mountains that I truly feel happy and free. I long to feel like that right now. ~Rich

Mood: bleh
Musik: "Roll It Over" by Oasis

Political ranting.....

Hello everyone! Well I haven't really been following the news very much lately about Iraq, but there was thing that caught my eye. Although unconfirmed thus far, it is believed that a shell that exploded near some soldiers contained sarin gas (a chemical agent that would also be considered a WMD). This got me thinking of all of the excuses the Left could come up with to play this event down. The first and most obvious is that, since it is unverified thus far, they could simply say something like: "It is unconfirmed as to whether the shell contained any chemical agent." However, what would they say if it is confirmed to be nerve gas? Maybe it will be something similar to: "Well, we've only found one shell while President Bush and Donald Rumsfeld told us we would uncover stockpiles." Hmmm, I'd give that comeback a 3 out of 10 (10 being the best). Because last time I checked, you don't just make one shell. That is unless the production of artillery shells is very similar to that of automobiles. Think about it, maybe that artillery shell was just a "concept shell." Yes that's it. I bet that the shell had to prove itself by killing many Westerners and Jews, then and only then was it good enough to be put into full production by Idiots Opposed to Western Ideals Inc. Okay, maybe that's a little far-fetched, but I bet Ted Kennedy would not mind convincing you otherwise.

Slammin' Sectional

Today PJ and I headed down to KV to watch the girls participate in sectionals. Rachel qualified in the discus, and Mo put up a good effort despite pretty bad conditions (I'm sorry Mo, you worked so hard this year). Plus, Killer Cat (most likely pretending to run away from the Cat Killer) ran a blistering 2:39 to (escape the clutches of certain death) break her personal record. So congrats Meow and run lots over the summer.... or I will cry. As for my life, I'm basically done with high school. I turned in my last English paper today and I don't have to take the Sociology final cuz my grades rock. Hurrah!~ Rich

Busy but happy....

I did have a particular subject I wanted to write about tonight. But I just finished my final english paper and I don't really feel like typing something that requires any excess thinking. As for my day... it was OK. School was a blur. I hope the next 8 days or whatever the hell we have left go the same way as today did. Track sucked because the only solid food I had consumed the entire day was a banana 5 minutes before practice. By the end of what should have been an easy practice I was completely dead. After I got home I spent the night eating and finishing up my english paper to "go out with a bang" in the class haha.

Mood: happy and prepared
Music: "The Artist In the Ambulance" by Thrice

Well, I did have something I wanted to right about that was going to be quite lengthy. But, PJ stopped by and we had to catch up on things.

I hope that you are enjoying a blissful ignorance.....

I was about to call it a night, but I have something I wanna get off my back. It seems like over the past few months I occasionally run into people who tell me things another person (Person X) has told them that simply aren't true. Moreover, this Person X has been carrying on this lie throughout various posts in their blog and other peoples in the "comments/props" section. Earlier this year I could still understand why Person X would continue to lie about the subject matter (however childish it was). Yet now, after a number of months, the lie keeps on being brought up by Person X for almost no reason whatsoever. My guess is that Person X is doing so for two reasons. A.) lying about this particular subject makes Person X think they look really cool to other people B.) Person X is so consumed with the idea that it has to have been someone's fault (aka mine) that they must try anything in their power to make me look like the dumb/bad guy. Then again, they may be doing this for both reasons. Whatever the case, it's really sad. If you're as mature as you claim to be/think you are, then why don't you just drop it. I don't need to go around trying to tell all of my friends what "really" happened, so don't go around lying to yours (or mine for that matter). Frieden aus. ~ Rich

"your eyes... they leave me broken and in need of a cure"

Don't ya just love job huntin'? I know I do. I spent the majority of yesterday going around and "collecting" applications from numerous places of employment. After I got back Joe came over and we shot hoops for awhile; he kicked my ass when we played 1-on-1. Later on, my dad and I went for a cruise south of H-town, which was fun as usual. When I got back Joe said Sheet's were having a fire so I tagged along with him in separate cars. I didn't plan on staying long, but I didn't up leaving until 1 (so much for a good night's rest). Johnny had gone to the party as well and he was pretty tired (and didn't wanna drive all the way back to Rob's that night because he had Guard in the morning), so I let him crash at my house. I guess he left at sometime around 6:15, I didn't hear shit though 'cause I was out pretty bad. Anyway, I woke up about an hour or so ago and I'm pretty hungry now. Oh I was looking around in my room today and saw my Thrice laying in my CD drawer. I forgot how good this CD is. Anyway, I'm gonna end this post in a sec. Today is gonna be kinda boring. If I have time I might buzz up to M-ville to get Franz Ferdinand's CD.~ Rich

OK.... I lied

Mood: "meh"
Music: Silhouette by Thrice

"This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality"

I finally did it. My junior year I ran a 4:46 mile in XC practice: this was my fastest mile.... up until yesterday. Most of you have no idea how relieved I am to have finally broken a PR that unnecessarily stood for over a year and a half. After coming through with splits of 69, 69, 71, and 73, I was able to run a 4:44. Before I had even gotten to the finish line I knew I was gonna PR that race. In the process I was able to place third behind two very talented runners whom I have much respect for: Zach Evans and Chris Urena. Nice job guys. On the downside of things I got very sick after running the mile, 2-mile, and the anchor leg of the 4x4. In all likelihood, I probably did not consume enough water earlier in the day. So I slept 10 hours that night and went to school at lunch today.

Mike D. and I ran out in the rain today. It was kinda cold so I was hoping to borrow someone's spare longsleeve shirt. So I asked Mike D. if I could borrow one of his. The conversation is as follows:

Rich - "Hey dude, (you) gotta shirt I could borrow???"

Mike D. - "Ummm.... yeah I think so hold on" *starts digging around in locker full of clothes*

Rich - "I mean do you have a longsleeve that isn't gonna smell like ass?" (after remembering him commenting about how bad his locker smelled)

Mike D. - "Uhhhhh.... probably not"

Rich - "Nevermind then, I'd rather freeze"

Mike D. -

Oh by the way, I'm ripping of your "currently listening to:" and "mood:" thingies.... which I'm sure you ripped off of xanga :) lol

Mood: elated
Currently listening to: "Take the veil, cerpin taxt" by The Mars Volta

Tomorrow is our conference meet. I know that this should be a sad or depressing meet for me, but I'm kind of looking at it from a different perspective. This will be the last 2 mile race of my career, but it will also be the end of being just an average runner. In less than a month I shall begin training harder than I ever have and this is exciting to me. Moreover, it's hard to be sad about having one of my last meets when I have had so much fun and so many memories over the past four years. Everything from parties over @ Scott's house, chillin' over at Cat's house, riding in the Deutsch, driving everyone around in Big Blue, and Fazoli's runs year in/year out; it's all been fun and I know I will remember these things for years to come. It's also hard to be sad about the whole affair when there is so much to come back and see. Matt's starting to learn that the harder you work the faster you run. Cat's made me eat my words about running the 800. Which, by the way, nice job at PCC last night. You ran yet another amazing 800 and you do deserve the Blizzard (you should know I was just playin' earlier). Alexis is becoming mentally tougher and thus physically tougher in the process. Sara's under 2:40 in the 800 and has a lot of promise if she puts a little more effort into running. Then, there is Jake. Jake is what some would consider the least likely source for success. But, the kid works his ass off. He's a good shit and it's been nice to have him around. If he puts his miles in over the summer I think everyone will see vast improvement.

So all I can do tomorrow is step up to the line and try to run my best race. But, in the end I have my overall goals that reach far beyond what I am running right now. This phase of my running career is but a stepping stone into bigger meet and better times. Guess that's it for now. ~ Rich

Currently Listening to: John Frusciante's Shadows Collide With People

Wow, can I make myself look any cooler? My past 2 track coaches really seem to enjoy flipping out on me when I least expect it. Actually, I'm not gonna lie: I'm a cocky asshole (or at least I know I come off that way). So here's what happened:

After school, we had track practice like every day. We get our warmup in and coach shows up shortly thereafter. So, he gives us the workout: 2400, 800, 600, 400 and windsprints. (here comes me being an asshole... just to give you fair warning) OK, so this is only the what... 30th, maybe 40th mixed interval workout this year (which basically means every workout except maybe 2-3 give or take)? Moreover, we're 3 days away from conference and we're doing a 2400 (that's a mile and a half interval for those of you not in the know). Last year, and for that matter, the year before last, when my times actually got faster as the season went on, we were doing shorter intervals like 500's, 400's, and 300's (my all time favorite). So, being the semi-obsessive/compulsive runner that I am, I asked coach if we could have a day where we do just 300's (like the good old days with Coach) to tune up speed. He totally flips out on me (as has happened many times in years past, 70% of the time for good reason I must admit) and tells me that all I've done is complain about all of the workouts we've run, and that he's given me what I want and I'm still not satisfied. Well, he's right about one thing. I have complained about every workout this year (with the exception of a few of them at the beginning of the year that were pretty tight). However, when it comes to bending over backwards for me, I don't believe running mixed intervals 95% of the time fits the bill. I would go on, but I have come to the conclusion that:

a.) trying to talk to him about the whole situation is just gonna make me look like an ass to my teammates. Moreover, I'm sure I look like an ass to the members of my team who may be reading this.

b.) no one is really gonna understand my position on the situation, nor do they care. But, this is my blog, and being such I reserve the right to VENT whenever I feel like doing so.

"Feed my will to feel this moment urging me to cross the line"

CD of the hour: Tool's Lateralus
Song of the minute: "Lateralus"

I hope that everyone out there is having a much better night than I am. Staying home Friday night to work on my english really did not matter. There is so much shit that needs to be done that I might as well have just done the stuff I did on Friday sometime this morning. Whatever the case I am now rushing to get everything done. I guess at this time I shall reflect upon the fact that this is the last time I will be pulling a presentation out of my ass for high school. Tear, tear. Oh well, there's always 5 more years of college haha. So I've been listening to Lateralus (both the song and the album as a whole). The title of the post is from the song; I picked it because that song has been one of the songs that, for the last 3 years, has kinda gotten me psyched to run. As I get closer to the end of my high school career it seems like I keep on looking back at all the stuff I've done or failed to do. Hmm.... random idea that sounds pretty good: over the next few days I think I might devote one post each day to a "section of reflection" of my life. Topics may include trips, running (duh! you knew it would be in there), relationships, friends, and anything else I can think of. Here's the catch, if you want me to do this I wanna see some comments since I took 5 minutes out of my oh-so-very-busy schedule to install that add-on to the blog. See you folks later~ Rich

Best day in at least 6 months!

Today was such a frickin' awesome day! The weather was impecable (and because I was out in the sun all day I now have the worst farmer's tan ever) with the temp being like 72-5 and not a lot of wind. My day started with the Washington Invite. After sitting around in the sun for 2 hours I finally had my first race: the anchor leg of the 4x8. It was my 3rd time this year to actually run an 800 in a meet. I ended up with a 2:11, plus I ran negative splits on it (which was cool). I also ran a shitty mile in the DMR and an even shittier 400 in the 4x4. But, considering the meet was pretty pointless in the first place I was not very worried about it. After the meet, the whole team went to Fazoli's. Adding to the fun, Griechen and one of his friends showed up. He's gotta be one of the craziest kids I've met haha. I ended up "driving home" with my parents which meant that when we were done eating my mom drove me to a parking lot where my dad was. I got the the Bimmer (score!) and they took the Camry home. Because the meet was utterly pointless, I had already decided that it would be smart to head up to the Dunes and get another workout in.

This is where the day turns into the best day in the past 6 months. You know how sometimes just the simple pleasures in life are the most satisfying? That's kinda what today was like. I cruised all the way up to the Dunes with the top down, the Eagles of Death Metal in the CD player, and the sun beaming down on me. When I got to the Dunes there was a nice cool breeze off the water. As I ran the air felt fresh (although we all know that air coming from Gary is not even close to being "fresh" lol) as it went in and out of my lungs. I decided to be a little stupid and ran barefoot. Running on the beach barefoot is one thing; running on trail 9 barefoot is another. So, now I have blisters on my feet, but I really don't care. It felt so good running barefoot for 40 minutes on the sand/dirt. After running for about 40 minutes, I ran up to the lake and walked back to Porter Beach with my feet/calfs submerged in the icy water which felt soooooo nice. On the way home I popped in Led Zepellin's II because it makes for some awesome "top-down" music. There you have it folks: my somewhat uneventful, yet absolutely enjoyable day. I hope yours was as gratifying.~ Rich

You will come back within yourself
You can be art when we melt
And I will know what you were for
I say we're leaving
There ain't nothing here at all
Another day, a week, the mall
And baby if i was in demand
You would be mine

Someday this place it going to burn
Is your whole life in there waiting?
Someday your head is going to turn and you'll realize
I'm missing, do you realize?

You will come back
Convince yourself you can stay alive
And wait for me
And I will know what this was for
And i'll say we're leaving
There ain't nothing here at all
Another month, a year that's all
So you can tell them I'm coming
And hell's coming with me.

Someday this place is going to burn
Is your whole life in the waiting
Someday their heads are going to turn and they'll realize
You're missing
We are there

Suburbia by Matthew Good Band

That's the song of the moment folks...... find it somewhere, you'll like it; I know I do.

"over-homeworked"

It's Friday and I'm staying home. The amount of work that I have due for english on Monday is absolutely nuts. I've got to get my stuff together for a 20 minute presentation over Othello which has to include a nifty PowerPoint presentation along with a helpful pamphlet for each of the members of the audience. A 3 page skeleton discussing the variations in gestures used during the different versions of Hamlet is also due Monday. So I'll probably get 2 or 3 hours of work outta the way tonight so that I can prevent being totally overwhelmed on Sunday.

Right after school a few of the guys on the team trekked up to Valpo for the usual Fazoli's and B&N pre-race ritual. Had some interesting conversations about innocent people that aren't. In other news I have actually got some money in my pocket. It will probably be gone tomorrow though, seeing as I plan on picking up a yet-to-be-determined CD. That being said I'm gonna get down to a little bit of work. Later~ Rich

Wow! It was really hot today and having to run on a black rubber track did not help any. After practice we hopped in Meow's pool which was ice cold and felt oh so very nice. We don't have practice tomorrow so I'm probably going to get up in the morning and run or bike. After school a few of us might be heading up to Fazoli's for a good meal before our most important meet (haha) of the year: the Washington Relays. ~ Rich

Clingons

I really dunno what to talk about tonight. Don't really feel like talking about my day because it was just kind of "blah." I am going to the Dunes after my meet on Saturday to get a nice workout in which I'm kind of excited about. Oh I guess I do have something to talk about; clingy people piss me off. Most of the clingy people I know are nice, and I'm nice in return. However, I think that this is why they bug the hell out of me all of the time. But, I'd feel kinda bad if I just told them to shut the hell up. If it continues I may just have too. Because it's one thing if they just try and talk to me all the time. It's quite another thing when they are trying to invite themselves into going or doing whatever it is that I (or my friends) are doing at the time. Haha, 90% of the people that read this have no clue what I'm talking about. Oh well.~ Rich

Rockin' rollin'

Today rocked hardcore! I did absolutely nothing, and I'm now "sufficient" so I can play chess during STAR again haha. Later on, I got 2nd in the mile and won the 2-mile in my last home meet as a Hawk (kinda sad). Moreover, I smashed my old 400 pr by running at least a half-second faster in the anchor leg of the 1600 relay. And I met this chick who seemed pretty cool, so I was happy about that too. So for those of you who were worried about me over the past few days: fear not. I'm happy again, so I hope you are all happy as well. Then everyone is happy..... and that's cool. I believe I shall leave it at that. ~ Rich

Music and Emotions

Gutentag alles. I'm currently listening to The Mars Volta's De-Loused in the Comatorium. True, I've already talked about this CD a few times, but I think I shall talk about it's greatness yet again. Besides, you're sick of hearing about how my running goes and frankly, among other things, I'm sick of running. Anyway, about this CD I'm listening to. It is by far one of the top 3 weirdest CDs that I have in my collection. I have yet to even decipher 95% of the meanings behind the lyrics on the album. What makes it so great is the fact that you don't even need to really fully understand the lyrics. I guess the best analogy is to say that listening to the Mars Volta is a lot like listening to opera (except, unlike opera, it totally kicks ass and will leave you craving more). Omar Rodriguez, the guitarist for the band, is a friend of John Frusciante's (another one of my fav.'s), and stylistically it shows. There is absolutely no shredding on the album, nor is there anything even resembling your standard rock guitar solo. Instead, the guitar follows weird rythms and utilizes every type of sound processing equipment under the sun. The finished product is an album that you can truly feel. When TMV want you to feel sad, they do it through the voice and guitar. They hit the high notes on guitar and vocals in a way that creates this sense of fear and frantic urgency that is just amazing. And at the same time the congas are being pounded and the marracas are shaking..... different for prog rock, huh? This brings me to my next point about the album. I'd mainly consider it to be progressive in the styling that it's styled and being that the album is created around one theme (the death of their beloved friend). However, there are so many different bits and pieces of genres scattered throughout the album; rock, emo, punk, and salsa are just a few. So buy the CD (it's $10, that's cheaper than Britney, Justin, The Vines, Slipknot, Sum 41, or any other shit that you might be tempted to waste your money on) and play it at least 4 or 5 times (each time played all the way through... with no interruptions if possible) before you make a decision.

Summer is fast approaching and all I can think about is laying on the beach and finally hiking Mt. Lafeyette. I found out that seniors get out a day and a half early this year (BFD, in the past they got out at least 3 days ahead of time). So far it looks like I'll be getting out to NH sometime in mid-late June, which is fine by me because that will give me a little time to start out with some of my slower base mileage before totally kicking my ass out on the mountain roads of NH. The thing that's so great about running out there is that it doesn't even feel like running. Your there. And so are the trees. The air is fresh. The views are so beautiful whether it's sunny or raining. And the best part is the quiet. There are hardly any cars. No people. Just you, the birds, and the mountains. I cannot wait.~ Rich

So tired, yet so very wide awake. So stressed, yet I am unable to come up with a single clear reason as to why this is so. My thoughts are spinning around in my head in a manner that does not let me clearly reason about anything. Oh and running sucks right now. I'm really looking forward to summer, going to New Hampshire, hiking some mountains, taking in scenery, and running without any expectations or pressures from anyone but myself. The bronchitis that I have had for going on 3 weeks is still strong as ever. Heh, this blog has been written in the same fashion that my thoughts swim through my mind. ~ Rich

I long to be dead, and sleep with the fishies under the sea. They can swim throught my head, and stop all the traffic jams. And stop all the traffic jams. And there'll be no light tonight, if I'm fated..... ~ Matthew Good Band "Fated"