Stick it for Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits

I have some friends of mine who have a rather unique work schedule. Rather then working the normal 8 – 5 to get their 40 hour work week, they work ten hour days either Monday-Thursday or Tuesday-Friday. After enjoying a three day weekend, I think I would really enjoy working the M-Th or Tu-Fri work schedule. Just to be able to sleep in for another day or get your doctor’s appointments and oil changes done during the day when everyone else is working would be awesome. One less day of rush hour would be fantastic. Oh well. Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Friday night, a friend of mine came over and we just relaxed, ate good food, drank good wine, listened to good music, and then watched a comedy DVD. It was very interesting for me to go through all of my old CDs on Friday night. I had nice flashbacks to all of my old music phases. I started getting into music big time in about 8th/9th grade and it was fun for me to see the changes. There was the Radiohead phase when I bought five Radiohead CDs, there was the power-pop phase where I was big into Ash, Rooney, et cetera. Then I started meeting some friends in high school who opened my eyes to all kinds of different music and I was exposed to The Pixies, The Smiths. Other friends of mine introduced me to classic rock like Jimi Hendrix, Zeppelin, The Who. I have so many phases (Queen, Ozma, Green Day, Jimmy Eat World, and on and on and on) and it had been about two years since I went through all of my CDs that it was a great blast from the past. Every page in the enormous CD wallet was a page of history. Almost every CD has a history. I remember in ninth grade doing a report on the fact that Queen’s Greatest Hits was the best CD of all time (We Will Rock You, Bohemian Rhapsody, Don’t Stop me Now, Bicycle Race, We are the Champions, Killer Queen, et cetera). For some reason, at 14 I aligned myself with a homosexual British showman who died in the mid 1980s of AIDS? I remember my sister and I dancing to Rooney’s “shaking” while packing to go to Ames. I remember my final drive home to Minnesota from Iowa State after I graduated and listening to Motion City Soundtrack to cheer me up. Every single page has a memory or two attached to it.

1. I couldn’t write about this weekend without writing about my party Saturday night. Unfortunately due to it being Memorial Day Weekend, some of the people couldn’t make it, but when I did a final head count, from when the party started to when it ended, 15 people showed up. And in reality, that to me is like the perfect amount. If you have like 40 people it just becomes unbearable, but four or five people and it is lame. We listened to good music, had great conversations, drank a lot of adult beverages, and just enjoyed life. The weather was beautiful, the Robbins’ were beautiful, and life was good. I have several fond memories from Iowa State and throwing great parties. It was nice to still be able to do it. I am kind of getting bored with the whole bar scene so it was fun to be in an environment where I knew everybody, people were laid back, the price was right, and everyone had a good time. I need to do that more often.

2. I saw three movies this weekend. I first saw two indie movies. I rented Once and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Both movies won academy awards, both movies were highly rated… and I thought they were first boring. I would give them both a C. I just felt that the pace was way too drawn out and I was never captivated. Speaking of indie movies, I think I have seen every movie on my indie list. Once is about a struggling Irish song writer who falls in love with a Czech girl who is already married. Sad ending. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is about a successful editor of a fashion magazine who becomes paralyzed and mute after a stroke but learns to write just through blinking. Very sad ending. Both movies are very depressing and I would pass on both. I did however see Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. I don’t know why everyone hated it. No, it’s not going to win any academy awards but I thought it was energetic, funny, and worth seeing in the theaters. Was it believable? Absolutely not but what action movie is? No James Bond movie is believable? No Die Hard movie or Star Wars movie is believable? “Wow! James Bond just jumped out of an airplane, flew down 300 yards, and landed right inside the door of a moving train!” Of course that stuff isn’t real. I think people had way too high of expectations for the movie. If you are looking for a movie where you can laugh, you don’t have to think, then I recommend the new Indiana Jones movie.

3. I think I am about done with Panera. The food is good and everything but the prices are becoming absolutely unbearable. Yesterday I ordered an Asiago roast beef sandwich with a medium pop. The total came out to $9.12. $9.12 for a fucking sandwich!!! You’ve got to be kidding me. It’s good but not that good.