How to lose ten million points REALLY fast!

So tell me...do you want to know how to lose ten million points REALLY fast? You're in luck. Just follow these few simple steps and you're guaranteed put on semi-permanent friend probation.

1. Your name is Ernie Rose.
2. You stand us up when we drive all the way out to DSM to see you.
3. You don’t answer the phone.
4. You don’t call back.
5. You make us get yelled at by Steve Schappaugh.
6. You force us to go to a party at DMACC with lame asses.
7. You hang up!
8. You hang up AGAIN!
9.
10. Meggie.

We did, however learn one thing. If we wouldn't have gone to the DMACC party we would never know not to go back ever again. We also learned, for real, that Peter is gay, or "bi"...as he says. We also, without DMACC, would never have heard the quote, "This bad pop will give me eboli, or ecola." We also would never have gotten our recreational activities over early in the day. Shee-at!

-Ashley, Kelly, and Krysta

"What the fucking shit is this (car) bullshit!?"

So yesterday Krysta and I went to get her oil changed in preparation for Illinois. After waiting the allotted time that an oil change takes we get back in the car and it won’t start! We then wait in the little lobby and read the paper cover to cover for two hours. The mechanic and his wire diagram figure that the fuse that runs the whole car is busted. They replace the fuse, free of charge, and we’re on our way.

We drive across the street to the car wash and on the way there the car is acting up and being jumpy. After the car wash we get out onto Ankeny Blvd. and the goddamn thing DIES! So we coast into a parking lot and start it and it dies again. We perform the “coast, start, and die” method all the way back to the oil place where they tighten the fuse up to prevent this from happening anymore. Whoever decided that a car should run on one little fuse was seriously mistaken.

The car was fine on the way home, and on the way to Ryan’s last night. This afternoon Krysta goes to start it and it won’t start! DEATH! We’ll have to see what this does to the travel plans for Illinois.

Last night we also helped Ryan and his mother at the Arts Festival! We sold merchandise that benefited the continuation of the Arts Festival in the Yonkers tent. We also got ourselves each a free t-shirt with the most obnoxious logo on it, which I am so pumped to wear simply because of the obnoxiousness of it. Tonight we’re going back to actually be artsy.

-Ashley

All I am for all you are
Because what I need and what I believe are worlds apart

Dave Eggers got it right.

First of all:

I am tired.

I am true of heart!

And also:

You are tired.

You are true of heart!

Joe's Birthday

A Brief Rundown:

Everything is fine
We make a drink tally for everyone
Everyone is happy
Allison, Kelly, Cindy and I get Gavin and Matt to drive us to Wendy’s for food
We stop at BP
Boys bark at us
A drunk dial is placed to Tyler Schipper
To Joe’s
We find Krysta hammered, locked in the bathroom, and on the telephone yelling at her mother
She goes home
Ryan runs to his car, starts it, and locks the doors
Kelly manages to get in
We pop a squat behind Matt’s car and watch the drama ensue
Ryan and Kelly emerge and go into the house
Ryan runs out of the house and down the sidewalk
Kelly chases him
Ryan wipes the fuck out
He gets up and runs
Kelly wipes the fuck out
She gets up
She wipes the fuck out again
Allison and I retrieve Ryan and Kelly
Allison and I find Cassiopeia and Canus Minor in the sky and feel happy that somewhere in the world other children are looking up at the same stars, unless it’s daytime where they are.
Nate is drunk and somehow gets a cigarette burn on his arm
He is so afraid it will scar
We tell him to put ice on it
He loses his sock and is convinced that everyone else has stolen it and is keeping it a secret
He requests Neosporin thirty or so times
I finally find some anti-itch cream, convince him that it’s Neosporin, and put it on the burn
I put a Band-Aid on it
He then turns his attention to the sock, saying “DONDE ESTA MI CALCETIN!?”
At three everyone is taken home.

D-R-A-M-A

-Ashley

And he tells everyone a story
Because he thinks his life is boring
And he fights so you won't ignore him
Because that's his biggest fear
And he cries
But you'll rarely see him do it
And he loves but he's scared to use it
So he hides behind the music
Because he likes it that way
And he knows that he's so much more than worthless
He needs to find the surface
Because he's starting to get nervous

Everywhere I go damn, there I am.

Drum line was Thursday night. I’m playing fourth bass as it stands right now. After all the back problems that I had last year, I’m going to see if I can get moved up to a smaller drum. I guess we’ll just see how that turns out.

Tonight was Cindy’s birthday. I got her two cool light-up squishy balls. Therein I got myself one light up squishy ball. Krysta purchased one penis shaped water bottle and one penis shaped pacifier. Kelly included in the surprise many health food items to help Cindy out with her ‘all natural’ lifestyle. Gag me. :) We ate cake and ice cream. I broke the dog toy. We watched Closer.

I really liked Closer. It portrayed well the irrationality behind human emotions. The relationships of all four people collapse, and gradually each of them finds some kind of solace in hurting one another. None of them are strong enough to stop the mutually destructive events, so they continue. It’s a fucky story of abandonment and love, and it’s a story that you know applies to you or someone you know. It just goes to show you, if you believe in love at first sight you never stop looking.

I also really liked Crash. It was a lesson in race relations in the present day United States. It involves a black police detective with a mother who is relapsing into drug use, and his car-thieving younger brother. The brother’s partner-in-crime is constantly theorizing on society and race. There is also the distracted district attorney and his irritated and pampered wife. A racist veteran cop, who is caring for his sick father at home, disgusts his idealistic younger partner. A successful black Hollywood director and his wife must deal with racist cop. An Iranian-immigrant father buys a gun to protect his shop, and incidentally coincides with a Hispanic locksmith and his young daughter who is afraid of bullets. All have their own problems, and all are trying to do the best they can.

Two days in Los Angeles shows us all how distant we all feel, but how interconnected we all are. “It’s the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In LA, nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.” But at the speed of life everyone collides.

-Ashley

And life barrels on like a runaway train
Where the passengers change
They don’t change anything
You get off
Someone else can get on
And I’m sorry Mr. Jones
It’s time