He sings the songs that remind him of the good times. He sings the songs that remind him of the better times.

Yesterday was a night of mixed emotions. After staying up late Friday, I was pretty tired the whole day. The day basically consisted of eating leftovers, watching TV, and not wearing pants. At 7:00 a friend of mine called and said she wanted to go bar-hopping in Saint Paul. I had no excuse not to go so I said I would bathe and join her in an hour. When I met her at 8, she was already dancing the tango of inebriation with her friend. We went to the Irish bar, Shamrocks. The three of us had some laughs and then we were on to Billy's, another Saint Paul bar, to meet their boyfriends. As we park at Billy's, a car pulls up to us with three princesses in it. My friends and I were still waiting in the car, expecting a call, when the driver with the princesses in it flung her door open and hit my car. Naturally, they then decided to just walk away to which I honked the corn and yelled (but with the windows rolled up so they couldn't hear me, "What the fuck!") The driver then yelled, "What? I didn't open the door that hard." Her passenger then yelled at me, "Yeah, fuck you, don't start giving me any attitude." I guess I can't blame them. How dare I have the audacity to be irritated when they park after me and hit my car. If they would have just apologized, it would have been no big deal. I don't know if they were upset because we were white. I don't know if they were mad at me because I was a male. I have no idea. Anyway, so I'm a bit cranky, but okay and we get in the bar and I am just miserable. The bar was fine, and the people were nice but I was tired and I was with two couples who were very touchy feely, and I felt like it was single awareness night. But, I decide to make the best of it and I start talking with some guys and one of these guys says to me that we should go chick hunting. I mentioned that going after girls in a bar is not really my scene and I think I would just pass. He then asked if I would be his wingman then. Why not? This could be fun. No pressure on me. He then picks out a table that seats four with two women sitting down. Off we went, my first assignment as wingman. Again, I had never met this guy before so we developed a small strategy and I was excited. As we arrive at the table, he introduces us and the girl closest to us doesn't take her eyes off the TV and with a voice so sour it could turn milk bad, says, "Excuse us, we were watching the hockey game." My new friend tried his game for another 90 seconds ago before we raced back, our faces a pink hue displaying our embarrassment. I was reminded why I never will be the type of guy who goes "clubbing" or "looking for some play" at singles bars. Some people are blessed with the ability to quickly brush off rejection. I was never so fortunate. It was only about ten but I had had more than enough. I was ready to go home but I wanted to tell someone my night. I ended up calling Mike and he mentioned he was with some friends I knew in a bar only a few miles from my house. I am very grateful to Mike and his friends as I ended up having a great time, just laughing, playing some pool and Foosball, and forgetting my worries.

1. Vice President Joe Biden has meetings in the country in Chile with several Latin American leaders and all of them have greatly encouraged the United States to lift the 47 year ban on Cuba. Biden simply says, "no". This greatly disappoints me as the embargo is outdated and unnecessary. A part of me is not surprised though. With as much on the plate of the Obama administration right now, the last thing they are worried about is Cuba. Maybe six, or seven years from now, if things have settled down, then Obama, Biden, and Secretary Clinton can review their policy on Cuba. It's just disappointing that nothing will be happening sooner.

2. Speaking of politics, one thing that does scare me is Obama's approval ratings when it comes to the issues. When asked the blanket statement, "Do you approve of job President Obama has done?" About 60% of Americans are pleased. However, his approval ratings, depending on particular issues, is much lower, sometimes ten or twenty points lower. This makes me nervous. Pardon my obviousness, but that means that as a whole, Americans really like Obama as a person but they are unsure on his policies. This scares me because if the Republicans can find a really charismatic politician, that might be enough to challenge Obama.

3. One thing that has always disappointed me with regarding Americans is their view on taxes. Nobody enjoys paying taxes but we quickly forget what all our taxes do. Police, fire department, libraries, military, and education are all places where our tax money goes. In today's Des Moines Register, they surveyed people by asking them which areas they would be okay having their taxes increased to support.

-Children on welfare: 9% of Iowans would support their taxes being raised to help homeless children.
-Corrections: 6% of Iowans would support their taxes being raised to improve the Iowa prison system.
-Environment: 9% of Iowans would support their taxes being raised to protect our natural resources.
-Courts: 1% of Iowans would support their taxes being raised to update our court system.
-Education: 25% of Iowans would support their taxes being raised to give more funding towards education.
-12% of Iowans would be fine with their taxes being raised for all of the above.
-38% of Iowans would vote for none of the above to be raised.

Because I am exhausted and I have a lot on my mind, I am going to briefly refrain from going on full meltdown mode about the above. It just saddens me that these same Iowans who would gladly vote Republican because of issues like abortion and gay marriage, 91% of these Iowans would not increase funding to help less fortunate CHILDREN. These are not homeless drug addicts. These are not prostitutes. These are kids. Was the survey probably too broad? Yes. But it is not that far off. I am not bashing Iowa either. I think these surveys are probably pretty indicative of most states. Sigh.

4. A friend of mine and I sat in $250 seats at the Wolves game this afternoon. Yes, I know the irony of sitting in my expensive soap box while casting stones at others as I did in my above point is hypocritical, I will note that the tickets were a free gift... and the Wolves won.

5. Currently listening to Notorious B.I.G.'s "Mo Money Mo Problems". Album: Life after death.