Well that was a long year.

So I took the last year off from a lot of things. I moved around a bunch of times trying to get my act together and I'm finally satisfied with the results. I left Los Angeles a little over a year ago and crawled across the east coast like the walking death until I finally settled down in Atlanta around Thanksgiving. I saw some doctors, worked on fixing my chest pains and just about figured out how to stop being such a psycho all the time. It really wasn't as easy as that short description makes it sound but that's fine: I don't wanna bore anyone with the gory details. Bottom line is that I've been clean and sane for almost a full year now and I haven't felt this good since high school.

I'm in Chicago, once again, and determined to last more than a couple months this time. Hopefully, I'll be attending Loyola Law School Chicago next year and in the meantime, I'm the Office Manager at American Invsco Realty and I actually enjoy getting up and going to work everyday. While I'm totally weirded out by that fact and never thought those words would leak outta my grill, I guess it just means I'm finally sick of the angsty slacker life I've been committed to since college. Or simply that I finally found a job I enjoy. Totally never thought I'd be involved with the scam real estate industry but I'm just the Office Manager and don't actually do any renting or selling. And that's why I like it: I get to do everything from marketing to research to social networking to Adobe stuff. And I like my boss. She's in a band.
I also got engaged to Maureen and we're finally moving into our bungalow in Portage Park, Chicago next week. Since we got here in August, Spaghetti and I have been stuck sleeping on the floor at her mom's house and its totally a drag. But I guess I am trying to make up for the hell I put Maureen through these past 8 years and although it has got to be impossible, sleeping on the floor at her mom's is something a well-behaved young man would do and not complain about. And if I also let her pick out the kitchen cabinet colors, then that is a huge step in the right direction too right?

So what do I do now if I'm not out raging til 10 AM every day? Kind of a good question. Well obviously I've been catching every Phillies game this Doctober. But other than that, I mostly just read a ton and play with Spaghetti. I try to play with him for at least a couple hours a night because he's stuck home alone all day with Maureen's mom and she calls him Sparky or some such nonsense and never even plays with him. So between the dog and the Phils and the job and Maureen, I have very little free time these days anyway. Maureen and I ran a 5K a few weeks ago but that is such a lame hobby. I'd so much rather play team sports or something.

I was playing a ton of piano in Atlanta but now Maureen's mom yells at me when I touch it. However, I did get my exiled computer back when I came to Chicago and Maureen watches her "Gossip Girl" and WB re-runs elsewhere now.
So hopefully I'll be able to crank out a new mix one of these days when I'm all set up at the bungalow. I had the ill studio upstairs before and I have plenty of space to rig something up this time as soon as Michael Albert gets his ass out here and we get the original Audacity lineup back together.

Oh and I found out who the impostor "DJ Tom Hanks" was and he got his cease and desist. Like I said, it was somebody I knew from Atlanta (who actually went to Fordham too) and it was actually my brother Christian that cracked the case. Obviously, he admitted he ripped it off right away and now goes by some horribly lame name.

Anyway, that's what I'm up to these days. My act is officially together and things are looking up. So I'm gonna go and hopefully figure out how to catch some of this Birds game online. Holla!

In Case Anyone Forgot, the Phillies Won the Motherfucking World Series!

I don't think it ever really set it: we won the world series. My squad finally sealed the deal and won it all. I have a championship team. Chase and Cole and Ryan and Myers and Shane and the rest of the most likable team in baseball are the champions of the whole goddamn world. And I still don't think I know what it feels like to be on top of the world. I always thought I'd have this year long euphoria and feeling that everything is right in the world. But now that I think about it, the feeling is more like a general sense of completion. Like the satisfaction you get after crossing something off a checklist: content, but the feeling is temporary and fleeting.
Maybe this has to do with my horrible night of "celebration" (so annoyed by the choice of companions at Cam's house that I gave myself a rash) (I'm not kidding...the shit hasn't even completely gone away. I was that annoyed by those motherfuckers.) Or maybe I just haven't been around enough Philly fans. I know one thing: the whole 46 hr rain delay did not ruin my series. I know all the media d-bags get off on being able to pigeonhole this series for the whole rain delay incident and act like it somehow ruined our victory. Fuck that noise: if anything, it only made the victory sweeter. Even Bud Selig and his bullshit maneuvering ("ok, tie game...time for the rain delay" - ARE YOU KIDDING ME?) couldn't thwart our steamroller pummeling of the Rays.

We're the shit. Seriously, no one could touch us last year and I knew we had the series locked up since the first playoff game in Milwaukee. In 2007, I knew we weren't getting past the first round. And this year, I knew the series was ours the whole way. Even after the bullshit analysts and sports writers started acting like we would forget how to play ball for 2.3 games because someone tried to screw us. They obviously don't know about Philly: we thrive on getting screwed.


So I don't have mixed feelings about the victory for the city and team (longest drought of any city with all four franchises is officially over!) even though baseball may want me to. I just wish i could be reminded of how badass my team is all day every day. But for now, I'll just have to content myself on the simple fact that when I find time to watch a couple highlights, tears of joy start leaking out my eyes and I remember cutting class to watch the Phils give it to Joe Buck and the rest of the irrational Philly haters out there. And I'm certainly holding out hope that finally getting back east in a few weeks will cement this feeling for the next 10 months.

Oh and one more thing: Fuck yeah we know how to riot! Seriously, I'd of been severely disappointed if we hadn't gone ape-shit on Broad Street like we did.

Phillies World Series Champion Riot Oct08 2008 -

P.S. Joe Buck can eat a fat dick.