Well yes, I'm home alone now. I wasn't going to drink...that was the original plan...but then I went to downtown lakeville to deposit a check and I decided to swing by Lakeville Liquors to pick up an app. Who did I see there, but one chick who quit our store the day she was supposed to work....and started working there. (she's since called up and asked if she could work at SA again because she hates her new job, but we all laughed hysterically and said she could go fornicate with herself) So that was awkward. But oh well. I came back here and watched the Vikes for a while...man did they look bad....and since then I have been listening to the Twinkies.

I called several people tonight. Some friends out in Denver...but the most important call was Jess. I really wanted to go out to some place in the country....probably like in Elko and sit on the hood of a car and sit and talk about life. She and I are going through a lot of soul searching right now and it's good to talk with her....but she didnt' answer the phone. I think she might still be out with her bro and dad canoing or some crap like that. Bastards. I called G-master last night at like 2 a.m. to talk....tonight I called Anna to talk. They're not the people I'd like to talk to...but I guess I have to talk to whomever I get. Bastards.

Let me go ahead and make this prediction right now.....I predict going down to UNI with "Rob" a lot this year, and partying with "Portis" and "merrel." Those are my predictions. I guess I have to make do with what I've got, but they're close and they'll be fun. The Wartburgers that read this can make whatever assumptions they want from that....but remember it's mostly likely you're own fault that those assumptions may come true.

Do you know why tonight was so great? Not because my brother sang the National Anthem at the Twins game. Not because I wore a shirt all day that on the back said: "MY BROTHER SANG THE NATIONAL ANTHEM IN TONIGHT'S TWINS GAME." Not because the Twins won for the 5th straight game....not even because I got to drink a lot of free beer and I didn't drunk dial anyone or make a fool of myself in front of my parents. No, the reason why tonight was so great was because I got to drink with my brother for real for the first time. Usually both he and my oldest bro are so reserved and are responsible. But tonight we celebrated his singing and his birthday, so a lot of his friends were there and his wife was the DD. So I got to have some real Brother time. Although, if it weren't for the round of shots presented to him, I don't think it would've happened that way. Hopefully in a year or so I'll have enough money to take my brothers out for a real night out and drink it up. I never got to do that with them....makes me kind of sad. Anyway, I knew that he was on the drunken edge when he pointed to me as I left with the parents tonight, and called out: "You! You need to get some Budweiser and have fun tomorrow night!" This was in obvious reference to being home alone and finally being able to watch a Vikings pre-season game. As much as I'd love to get drunk tomorrow night....I'd be ALONE. And, most importantly, without a female counterpart, and that'd suck all together. So yeah.....it was a good night.

Now, i think I'm going to switch on the CD of Summer Rain and Piano Solos. Good stuff to fall asleep to!

For all of you who don't like beer...I have one for you to try. It's made by the micro-brewery named Big Sky Brewing, out of Missoula, Montana. The name of the beer is Moose Drool Brown Ale. It seriously tastes like chocolate beer. That's the only way to describe it. It's not hoppy (bitter) at all. I think everyone would like it....and it's not to be confused with a Nut Brown Ale, like Newcastle, which is also amazing...but maybe not if you don't like beer. Anyway, the next time you wander into a liquor store, take at gander at the Moose Drool...maybe split a sixer with somebody. Good stuff.

Tonight the twins swept the sox. The O's swept Oakland. We're only 4 back in the wildcard race. 4 games ago we were 8 back, get the picture? Tomorrow night (Thurs.) my brother is singing the national anthem at the Twinkies game...it should be fun. Hopefully we'll keep the ball rolling and win again, although I think it might be Mays pitching...which would be bad. He pitched the last game I went to and gave up 5 runs in the first inning. Hmmm...oh well, a twins game is fun no matter what. Plus my sister-in-law is throwing a party afterwards and I don't have to drive home, so that'll be fun. And I get paid tomorrow night. And I don't have to work. Yay! Alright...before I have another beer, I need to go downstairs and pick up my trombone and play for a while. Yes, I know it's after midnight...but I've only played once since May and auditions are in like...what...less than 20 days. Yikes! Good thing I really don't care at all where I get placed. I know I won't be in the touring group....I guess I just want a respectable chair placement, so the 1st year girls don't think I'm some crappy senior. Yup, ladies and gentlemen, senior year apathy has already set in. Let the good times roll!

Ok, I'll admit. I gave up on the Twins early this year. After Hunter went down and we lost all of those super important games, I thought that was it. It was done. But after tonight's 9-4, 16th inning win against the White Sox IN CHICAGO, in addition to beating them last night as well....I'm a little more optimistic. It's fun to have a winning team...especially against those ChiSox. Yup.

I worked some overtime today. The day shifts are crappy. It's way too slow. I like to be busy until 7, take my supper break, and then have 3.5 hours left after I get done.

Welp...that's all I got....I think...yeah, it is. Peace.

That last post was a tad bit abnormal for me. Not only was it social commentary, (I usually try to stay away from topics like that on here for various obvious reasons) but I actually got up at 8 a.m. because I was so moved. Strange.

Today was my first day off in about a week. It was nice. I went to Target to use some birthday gift cards. I was disappointed, though, because they didn't have the CD I want. I've noticed more and more that Target floats on fads. It's a bit sad, really. I wanted to stop a kid that was gazing up at a display plastered with 50-Cent and G-Unit albums, say "For the love of humanity, stop now." How could that store have no Jane's Addiction? Literally only one Beastie Boys CD. I think they had like 3 Beatles CDs, but of course they have plenty of rap and hip-hop. (yeah, I know the b-boys fit in that category, but work with me here) There's no originality there. I purused the clothing section as well and saw the samething, kind of. There was originality in the clothes...but it was mass produced, you know? There were some great t-shirts that would be an awesome find in Ragstock....but not in a pile of 40. And for the love of the rock gods, they had a full rack of Pink Floyd tees. What the heck is a place like TARGET doing with Pink Floyd shirts? It defies everything Pink Floyd stands for. Sheesh.

At any rate, I DID find some good things. As luck would have it, I found a hat identical to the one I stole from my oldest bro. See, my fav. hat...the green Mickey's Mal Liquor hat...is really my brother's. When I visited his house while in Denver doing my internship, I "borrowed" it because I forgot to bring my Twins hat along. My original intention was to return it in June...but then I wore it while playing sports and such...and it developed a rather large dirty sweat stain. Hmmm...so I kept it. Not telling him, of course, just hoping I could find another one and replace it without him finding out. But then he read the post a couple of weeks ago where I mentioned the hat. Busted. So I used birthday money to purchase the identical hat to give to him, thus purchasing the hat that I took from him in the first place. So now it's really mine. Yay! Oh yeah, and my pair of jeans that I ordered online came today. They fit great. I'm totally set for school now. Good stuff.

Well, I think that's all I have for tonight. Even though I was supposed to have tomorrow off, I asked to work so that I could get some monster overtime. Plus, I asked for Thursday off, so it's not like I'm going to jump into a long stretch of working right away again. Not that I would care, really. But still. Ok, I should go to bed. Peace.

I've been reading Gods and Generals lately, and some of the Civil War mindset is starting to hit home. I guess I've never totally grasped how the southern states could just seceed from the Union and think it's the correct move. Maybe I've just never thought about it. In school we never covered that sort of thing. It was always about the economic reasons, and then about all of the generals, and facts and figures. But think about it this way. Think about our life in the midwest, or even just in Minnesota. Ok, let's say a group of people from Georgia or Tennesse or, even better, Texas decided that the way we are running our lakes is the incorrect way. Even though we are The Land of 10,000 Lakes, they think they know what is right. Would we just sit there and take it? I mean, obviously it isn't as serious of a topic as slavery, but can you see the thinking there? People in Texas have absolutely know idea what it's like to live in Minnesota and survive in Minnesota. Do they think they can sit in their politician's chairs and rule us? Minnesotans won't just lie down and take it for some TEXAN!

So I was thinking about this last night and I realized that is, actually, exactly what we're doing. There are many things wrong with the nation right now, but the thing that I see everyday is the price of gas. Maybe you are all in denial, but I've got some news for you: If nothing changes in the near future, we'll easily be above $3 a gallon by Christmas. Easily. Getting below $2 is long gone. But what can we do about it? Absolutely nothing. We're in a time of war and we must support our president, or at least that's what congress believes.

A man from India came into SA the other day fuming about how expensive gas was. I agreed with him, of course, but I'm so sick of people complaining to me, as if it were my choice, that I just silently nodded my head. And then he looked at me straight in my eyes and sneered, "Where's your Democracy now?" That hit home. That hit something deep inside me. Right now it seems like once "we" elect a president, it becomes a dictatorship. He decides who is America's enemy. He decides the nations morals. He decides America's interpretation of the Bible. He decides the law. President Clinton proved that presidents aren't above the law, but this isn't the same situation at all.

It's all about Iraq. We must support our Troops. Everbody's afraid to publically attack Bush because it might reflect poorly on our armed forces. The men and women that fight daily for our nation. Our Democracy. But if you saw Michael Moore's latest film, you'd know that it isn't Washington's men and women. They send the people to war, but it's not their sons and daughters and brothers and sisters. The issue is that we do have to support our Troops and, contrary to the popular anti-Bush belief that we must leave Iraq, that's not the answer. To leave now would screw us and Iraq even more. I want my brother and sister-in-law home. I don't want my friends to go over there. But I also know what we're doing to make that nation better. Unfortunately, it's that kind of stuff that never makes it to the news.

So we get back to the price of gas. Way back at the beginning of the War in Iraq, I was all for it. I refused to believe that it was all about oil. There were Weapons of Mass Destruction. Saddam was, and is, a bad, bad man. He wouldn't let us do it the peaceful way, so it had to be the forceful way. But then there weren't any weapons. It seems as if we attacked a nation that was hiding behind one man's words. That's precisely why it's so important that the U.S. finishes the job in Iraq before we leave. But what has happened so recently that would affect the oil prices? I dunno. But have you ever driven through Texas? I have. Numerous times. There's oil refineries all over the place. I think what the deal is right now is that The Prez is starting to feel the heat from the cost of the war. Notorious B.I.G. had it right: "It's all about the Benjamins."

So what can the common American citizen do about it? Write a letter? Protest? Make a movie? What's that going to do? Nothing. Really, only 1/4 of the nation, the 25% of America that voted, but didn't vote for Bush can complain. Every single customer at SA complains, though, and I know that all of them can't fit in that group. I always want to ask: "Did you vote? No? Then stop complaining. Did you vote for Kerry? No? Then stop complaining." Maybe gas would have still been expensive with Kerry, but we already knew it was expensive and getting worse with Bush. And nothing has changed. We elect a leader of the people, for the people. But once's the leader is in office, the common man loses any power he once had. You gotta ask yourself, Where's our Democracy now?

It's always something at SA. It really is. I got a phone call today that 3 of our employees up and quit. Today. One of them was the overnight guy last night...the other two were supposed to work the day shift. Today. Insane. They wanted me to come in and I would've, except I don't have a car and my parents were off somewhere, only to get back just in time for me to drive to work....because as far as they knew it was a normal day. I definitely wouldn't have minded the overtime. That's always nice. I'm sure I'd get burned out eventually, but I wouldn't mind working everyday. I've got a good routine: Sleep until 1 p.m., get up and eat a leisurely lunch while reading the newspaper, take a shower a little before 2, play a video game for the last 20 minutes before work or sit and talk with the parents, work from 3-11, get home and do random stuff until 2 or 3 a.m. It's a good system. As great as days off are, it always sucks big time to go back to work after you're away. Yeah.

So tonight I was working with the newest 3-11 girl, Bianca....on a sidenote, you'll notice how many people I've mentioned that I work the 3-11 with. In the month or so that I've been at this SA, all I've worked is 3-11 shifts and right around 5 different people have filtered through the shift with me. At any rate, I was working with this chick and in a lull, we were talking about her nearly brand-new Monte Carlo. I couldn't figure out how she could afford it when she was (and let me preface this by saying she's super nice and fun to work with) A. 19 years old, 2. working at a gas station, and F. has a kid. Her reply was, "yeah, I used to be a stripper." Now what the heck to you say in reply to that? Everything that first popped into my mind would've gotten me in trouble. Really, the only safe reply is the one I used: "oh." The sad thing is, I had to pretty much recommend that she should quit this decent job and go back to her old one. She can't make the payments on her car with the relatively meager gas station salary...especially while she's going to school and raising a kid. I never thought I'd say it, but she was actually better off being a stripper. How many times can you say that? Sorry...that was a random series of thoughts.

Last night I was talking with Meredith and she said I need to be doing more things that make me think. She's right, of course, since most of my days pass without me ever thinking one real thought. My mind is literally blank most of the time at SA. So then last night I was thinking of a new story to write....and my mind drifted to the summer after 6th grade. Lots of stuff happened that summer. It's a good transitionary stage, since I was going into the BIG 7-12 Rockford High School. That was also the summer where two worlds collided for me when Steph Jones dated Chad. Since the work would be fiction, which my writing professor so aptly defined as lying with style, I can take lots of different experiences and pack them all into that one summer. In other words, the classic coming of age story. But then I started thinking about who the intended audience would be. (Just like the marketing capabilities problem, Saienga) Who would want to read a story from that age? Are adults interested? I mean, I can get into a lot of deeper feelings if I go that route. Or would kids in the Junior high age group be interested? I think I can still go deep into feelings, but the swearing has to be kept to a minimum. Or would College-age people like it? I think not on college students, because that's yet another coming of age time. I think I'll have to go with the young adult group.

At any rate, that's another plot that's sitting on the back burner. I need to write more from experience. That's what I need to do. That's why "The Cellar Door" is going to be transfered from Upstate New York to Iowa. That's a much easier place to write about. Yeah. Ok. Enough of this. I've got church tomorrow. Yikes...in like 6 hours. I hate myself already.