Post 50. I feel like there should be a celebration.

Post 50. Right here. This is where the groundbreaking shit starts to happen. This is where i stop talking about my somewhat boring life, and start talking about all of the awesome things I've got planned for the rest of the year. This is where the bullshit stops, and the real me begins.

This is actually just another dumb post. I'm going to talk about a few things... actually write. I'm going to write about a few things. First stop, Baltimore MD.

Insubordination Fest is an annual event that I have attended since it's second show. It's a blast. The music almost takes a back seat to all of the awesome friendships formed, the crazy antics, and of course... the beers. We left on Thursday afternoon for MD and enjoyed a wonderful scenic drive down 95 South. Truth be told, I slept from the time we got on the NE Extension to the time we got about 30 minutes outside of Baltimore. We got to our hotel in the Inner Harbor, checked in, paid out the nose for parking the car for 3 days, and then left for the Ottobar.

The Ottobar is in a wonderful part of Baltimore so we parked pretty close to the venue. Upon walking in I ran into Danny, Dave Nobody, Phrank, Nick Valentine and a bunch of other people I can't quite remember right now. I remembered from last year that the upstairs bar was open for happy hour from 6pm to 9pm. After a quick check of what time it was, i noted that it was 6pm, and headed upstairs for some happy hour action. $1 Natty Boh's and cheap shots for 3 hours put me in pretty awesome form for the night. The highlights of this evening, although a little bit hazy, were Short Attention, Delay, The Max Levine Ensemble, Charlie Brown Gets A Valentine and Teenage Bottlerocket. We left the Ottobar and went back to the hotel after the show. I had a little too much fun so I went to sleep in the closet. I woke up in Brian's bed at 4:30am freezing cold, sleeping next to a fat guy who wasn't sharing the blankets. Boo.

Woke up Friday around 11:30am and was pretty sure that it would be the last I would see of the world. I stumbled downstairs and lit a cigarette trying to figure out up from down, left from right, and right from wrong. I figured out all of the above, and went back upstairs and laid on the floor. A little while later we went to the Lexington Market for some crab cakes. They were out of this world. Happiness can be eaten, and it can be eaten in the form of a crab cake. Here we met up with my total mancrush ChrisCrusher, his girlfriend Ali, Elliot from Wilkes-Barre, and Cameron from Seattle. DrewPeabottom and MsPeabottom showed up a bit later and then we left for the hotel room.

It was pool party time. I sat in a beach chair and drank a Natty Boh with my shirt off. There were ladies everywhere. I was scared for my life. I pooped in the hotel, it was awesome. it was the closest I'll ever come to giving birth... I was very happy, a little empty, and ready for Friday night's show.

We walked back to the hotel room to cut the sleeves off of our shirts and then walked back across town to Sonar. This is where we would spend the next 2 days. Walking in I ran into Drew and we went to the bar to get a couple of Boh's. We hung out for a bit and waited for the music to start. Highlights of this day were The Steinways last show, The Copyrights, Boris The Sprinkler, The Dead Milkmen, House Boat, The Menzingers and the Dopamines playing the best set I've seen in quite a long time, probably dating back to the last Ergs! show. PunkRockJeff showed up and it's always nice to see him. He came out from Milwaukee on what should have been a 13 hour drive, but it took him 16. I love this devotion for something as perfect as friendships and music. He told me when he got there he only drove out to punch me in the balls. More on that later. I left pretty sober because I wanted to make sure I remembered the Boris The Sprinkler set. The last time I saw them was 1997 in Duluth, MN on the night of my Senior Prom. They were just as good Friday night as they were when i was 17. Maybe ever better.

Saturday morning. Wake up, clear out the cobwebs and head off to find some cheap food. Nothing is open in Baltimore on Saturday... it's really mystifying. I settled for some Burger King and waited for 12 minutes after placing my order for two Whopper Jrs. Wow. I ate them on the way back to Sonar and met up with Brian and Mike in front of the venue. Saturday was another one of those, "Oh no, I'll bet I fall down" days. Jeff and I were enjoying some bands, knocking back drinks and having a blast. Highlights of the last night of Insubordination Fest were Dear Landlord (so good... again and again), The Measure [sa], Psyched To Die, The Leftovers, Kepi Ghoulie, Dillinger Four, and the Arrivals. We went outside after the show to say goodbye to people we probably won't see until next June and then went to Crusher and Ali's hotel room for a little late night after party action. TahoeJeff played his Uke and we sang along to various songs in different keys. It was awesome. I walked back to the hotel at 4:30am armed with a small pocket knife, and bloodshot eyes and fell asleep safely in the hallway closet of the hotel room. I woke up the next day and decided I wanted to try to stop smoking cigarettes.


Next topic! Stupid fucking cigarettes!

It's not going 100% so far, but I can count the number of smokes I've had since Sunday morning on one hand, and i think that's pretty good. Had this been a "normal" week I'd need about 8 hands to count them up. There are a few times when it's all i can do to not walk up to the store and buy a pack... even if just to hold one, or have the rectangle in my pocket. I'm going to try this time, and I'm going to be strong about it. I don't anticipate that I will fail, but I certainly worry about it. We'll see what happens... if at first you don't.. something something.

I'm done writing now. I'll let you all know how this thing works out. Keep your unit(s) on ya(s).