July 10, 2004
First off, Happy Birthday to my Mother! We will be at her house later on, getting the BBQ going in her honor. I am looking forward to it. This morning, Laurie and I are going to a memorial service for my once and future mentor’s brother. I could say something trite about the circle of life but I have more respect than that for the readers of this BLOG.
Tragedy struck Cleveland, OH on Thursday when it was announced that Carlos Boozer was going to sign a $68 million deal with the Utah Jazz. This is truly terrible. Awful. Horrible. Andrej said that he was going to start a hunger strike in front of Gund Arena. Long Beach Press Telegram Staff Writer Joe Stevens offered some insider perspective without the negative of being a full time homer. He agreed that this was bad. Former mentor and current star e-mailer to the Assholier than Thou Good Times Happy Friends Monday Morning Radio Show Starring Baby Fea (yea!) swore into my voice mail at the office. I am still in shock and generally pretty bummed out by the whole thing. I know that there is more to life than Cavaliers basketball but that does not make this suck any less. Boozer was my favorite Cavalier since Mark Price was traded almost ten years ago. I really believed that he was the heart and soul of the Cavaliers and the future of the franchise. With the Detroit Pistons winning it all this year, I saw Boozer as the same kind of gritty Pistons type player on whose shoulders the organization could build a possible championship season. He was big. He was tough. He was a man. And best of all, he was a Cavalier. He was our dude. I still can’t believe it.
Obviously, Jim Paxson should be fired immediately. I am not saying that I could run the Cavaliers any better than him but I am sure that there is somebody else who could. The Cavaliers should find that person and hire him. I know that Jim Paxson inherited Zydrunas Ilgauskas and his $14,625,000 salary this season, so it is not entirely his fault. And he did get rid of the Goodyear Kemp (forever grateful). But he drafted Trajon Langdon (#11), Chris Mihm (#8) and Desagna Diop (#8) and signed Ricky Davis and Kevin Ollie to long term deals. Enough. Jim Paxson must go. Or I will join that hunger strike with Andrej.
posted by Thea at 8:01 AM
July 8, 2004
A guy I work with – musician – artist – hipper than me - did the pop in to my office today. He wanted to talk about the awesome CD of Ethiopian soul music that he made for me. I was listening to Bruce Springsteen’s “Darkness on the Edge of Town” on the computer. I was not embarrassed by my pedestrian music selection at work but wished I was listening to something a little more adventurous – like Ethiopian soul music.
Distracted and out of it at the office, I had long talks with Andrej and Tom Ericsson today. I am on one end of the spectrum, Andrej is on the other and Tom is in the middle. I wonder if the three of us will ever spend the night sitting in a kitchen, drinking gin and bullshitting until morning again. I am guessing no.
Again – not a kid anymore and I can notice the difference between young adults and me.
It is really important for me to believe in what I am doing. I do not (and never will) say: “That’s life” as a reaction to bogusness. It is important to have passion. It is important to have enthusiasm. It is important to think that what you are doing is important. And if you do not feel that about what you are doing, then don’t do it. There are reasons to live and one of them is not just not dying – perpetuating the cycle. Not wanting to die is not a reason to live. Do you know what I am saying? I have to believe in what I am doing.
A noted musical hero of mine told me that he listened to the Assholier than Thou Good Times Happy Friends Monday Morning Radio Show Starring Baby Fea (yea!) for the first time a couple of weeks ago and he thought it was pretty funny. Yeah, me too. Thank you, dude.
posted by Thea at 9:46 PM
July 7, 2004
Today is forty days until I start law school. The point of the countdown? I am not sure that there is one but I am definitely aware of what day it is.
Today was the fifth band practice in five days. I am now officially thrashed out. Thank you very much Stan T. of Garfield Heights, OH for coming up with the phrase thrashed out. I have a show with one band on July 23rd and another show with the other band on August 6th. More details to come - if you are interested.
My new favorite white trash guy is Angry Lakewood White Trash Minivan Dad. You rule, dude. Keep scowling from behind the wheel of your minivan. Keep yelling at your kids. You are awesome.
What’s with this “Big Lebowski” 9/11 thing? Have you heard of this?
Larry Young is truly excellent.
I am going for a walk now. The idea is that I will walk my worries away. Good bye, worries. See you later.
posted by Thea at 9:15 PM
July 4, 2004
On Friday morning, we headed out on State Route 6 going west. Really no idea of what we were going to do. Just the thought that we were going to head out to Vacationland and see what happens. We drove to Vermillion, OH where Laurie had to go to the bathroom. It was a pain in the ass getting out on to State Route 6 from the McDonalds parking lot. This was not the same Vermillion, OH McDonalds parking lot where my mother would make my brother and I share fries and Cokes. That one is closed and this McDonalds took its place. It has a playground. We drove on State Route 6. Past where I ruined putt putt. Past the apartments where I lived as a baby. Past the paper box that I would walk to first thing in the morning when my family was on vacation so I could read the baseball scores while I was eating my breakfast. Laurie could not believe that I would walk to the paper box to buy a paper as a little kid. I explained to her that I was always the man I am today – even as a little boy. Past Mitiwanga Park. Past my Aunt and Uncle’s cottage off Rye Beach Road. Past Cedar Point. Through some sketchy looking areas of Sandusky, OH that I am in love with because I love watching cities die. Thus the love affair with Youngstown, OH. Ditto Warren, OH. Hello Cleveland, OH. We went to the bank in Sandusky, OH. We watched a guy in a truck use one of those tube things. Who uses those things anymore besides that guy in the truck? Onward to Port Clinton, OH. On State Route 2 over the Sandusky Bay. In Marblehead, OH. The lighthouse. The fudge. To Catawba Island. Past Cheese Haven. Advertising donuts among other things. To Gem Beach. Now condos. No bathhouse. No miniature golf course (where I did not technically ruin putt putt but sure tried). The cottage is still there. In good shape. How we ever got eighteen people in there I will never know. To the ferry. Paid to park. Paid ride it over. Was not paying for a golf cart. I don’t mind walking. There. Wished I would have had a golf cart. Back. Put-in-Bay, OH. Awful but awesome. Does that make sense? It is still nothing but lame bars with dudes singing “Rocket Man” to drunken fat people. But then again, it is something else and it is that something else that I love and the something else that makes me want to go back all of the time. If I was a better writer, I would be able to communicate in words what I love about Vacationland – the something else. But I can’t. Maybe I will be able to articulate it a little bit on tomorrow’s Assholier than Thou Good Times Happy Friends Monday Morning Radio Show Starring Baby Fea (yea!).
posted by Thea at 8:24 AM 