The Weekend Edition

Ahhhh...back to normal. My first weekend edition in a while, but boy, it was a good weekend and one that I'll enjoy writing about. Here's a breakdown of what happened:

• The Crew and I hitting up Tommy's Burger Stop (delicious!)
• Elton John!
• Foosball at the Avenue
• Vegan supply shopping
• BBQ at Jason's
• The Homie with the Crewnit
• Snow City for Amy's birthday
• Ballin' at the AK Club
• Day 1 of vegan David (Tofu Pad Thai ftw)

As per usual, I've chosen a couple subjects in specific which per particularly spectacular to elaborate upon, and you'll see those bad mamma jamma's below.

Elton John being spectacular at the Sullivan Arena

As I've mentioned a time or two, Elton John visited Alaska recently to much fanfare. Myself and the Crew went to the show Friday night at the Sullivan Arena along with a LOT of other people. Both shows were sold out (even exceeding capacity on both nights) and the town was abuzz with Elton fever. After seeing him myself, I really understand why they were.

The man is the consummate performer, putting on an incredible show, sounding fantastic, and seemingly genuinely appreciating Alaska's love for him. To be honest, I can see why in terms of the latter subject, as I've never seen an Alaskan audience go so nuts for a performer before. Truth be told, I don't think I've ever seen a show with such an appreciative audience. I was really amazed at everything that happened though.

After hearing his performance, I realized two things: I know very few Elton John songs and the man is an incredibly talented musician/songwriter. Almost every song was stellar, and his piano work sounded alternately beautiful and genius (he would "jam" for minutes at a time, and he was clearly having fun with it). With that said, his most powerful instrument was his voice - this man can really belt songs out. Loved the performance and I am very thankful I had the opportunity to attend it.

The Crewnit

Saturday night, Jason had a BBQ at his place and the entirety of the Crewnit was invited. Well, us and a ton of people I had never met before but who also ended up being awesome. This was a very fitting event though, as it was Amy and I's last night as meat eaters for a while and I really went overboard in consuming. Example? My second "burger" consisted of these layers: bun, salami, burger, cheese, shrimp, beef kabob, chicken, hot dog (one whole), bbq sauce, bun. About half way through I really felt like a nap and upon completion I felt like dying.

But god, was it worth it! I sure went out with a bang.

Colver, Kim, me, and Hannah - Serious faces only, please

After the actual BBQ section of the evening, the Crewnit segregated ourselves from the rest of the group by going out to Jason's deck/porch business. We had ten people or more out there quite often, and it was an absolute blasty blast, to quote Hannah. Sheer ridiculousness flowed from our mouths all evening, especially after more and more beer was consumed. The table team (my special nickname for the inside people) seemingly thought we were insane. Which, you know, we may have been.

Jason's "badass" face and Amy...being Amy

So what happened out there that made us seem so crazy? Hmmm...

• Jason rolling a pack of cigarettes in his sleeve as if he was a street tough from the 50's
• Lorna repeatedly getting her heels stuck in the deck and becoming frantic immediately afterwards
• Hannah and I wrapping ourselves in a blanket and taking pictures with nearly everyone
• Roughly 100 pictures being taken of us in various crazy poses outside on the porch
• Playing football from the porch to the grass
• Ridiculous amounts of yelling

Hannah and I in the blanket - I have my best Batman face on

Of course there is the distinct possibility that it was not animosity coming from the table team, but sheer envy of our awesomeness. That's a possibility, for sure.

Amy, Hannah, Nate, and I on the deck - I look crazy as per usual

No less, after a few hours of hijinks at Jason's, the entirety of the Crewnit rolled out to the Homie for sheer ridiculousness in a public setting. This was probably the most fun I've ever had at the Homie, and it was great that Colver and Lorna came out for the first time to it. The night featured a lot of awesome foosball playing, myself nearly getting into fisticuffs with a girl (but in a playful way), lots of shot taking, dance party plus on the dance floor (I was told I could get lower than anyone else on the dance floor...I got skills!), and of course feeding beer to each other with pitchers.

Because that's normal, right?

All in all, it was a great night. Insane, for sure. To be honest, it didn't cost that much, I had an absolute blast, and I wasn't hungover at all today. I feel great to be honest, especially as I look through pictures recounting our night. Very good times indeed. To quote Amy via Barney Stinson, this summer is going to be legendary. No diggity. No doubt.

What's going on back in AK?

Once again, before I get cracking on my Sasquatch related posts, I wanted to get into details about my thoughts about a few things and then a couple current happenings in my life. This post is about current happenings in the good ol' AK, now that I'm back from vacation and getting integrated back into the ebbs and flows of that crazy place.



Before I left, Amy became really interested in the vegan lifestyle, or at least sampling what it had to offer her for a month. This extremely random scenario came to fruition because her good friend Blake decided he was going to do the same thing (as you can see here) and was going to blog about the whole experience no less. She set herself upon the idea, but before I left we had a discussion as to how long I would last as a vegan.

Amy: 45 minutes?
Me: Come on...way longer right? I'd be ok so long as I had milk.
Amy: You can't drink milk - cows remember?
Me: ...
Me: ...
Me: Dammit.

Ok, that isn't exactly how it went, but there was not a lot of confidence in her. While in Portland I quizzed friends and the general consensus was somewhere between one (AMANDA!) and three days (Erik and Sheri I believe). Upon my return, I asked Colver, and he suggested I'd last a week, but to quote him it'd be "because everyone said you couldn't, and knowing you, you'd do it just long enough to prove everyone wrong."

Colver apparently gets me very well. So I'm going to try it, just to see how long I'll last. I'm shooting for a week, but who knows! Maybe I'll last even longer. Maybe I'll love it and develop taste for soy milk and tofu.

Nah. No way. But it's a worthy experiment - but for those concerned, don't worry - I am not getting involved with issues. This is just a study in self control, or better yet, my extreme lack of it. Starting June 1st, it is on.



My Alaskan posse and I (also known while in separate factions as the Crew and the Unit, or the Crewnit when combined) are embarking on a legendary journey this summer taking us from sketchy bar to sketchy bar across the Alaskan wild. This summer is going to be the inaugural Crewnit Alaska Dive Bar Tour, taking us all the way from the Buckaroo Club in Anchorage to Tips in Eagle River, from the Salty Dawg Saloon in Homer to the Comet Club in Fairbanks - we are going to turn this state upside down - Crewnit style.

Should be delicious and ridiculously fun, but special thanks to my good friend Raechelle who designed our shirt logo above. She did a great job and dealt with my needy nature when it came to the shirt design, and I love the finished product. Now we just have to make the shirts and distribute them, and then drink in sketchy places of course. We're good at that last part at least.

As you can see in my post here, Elton John is coming to Alaska for a few performances. After the first show sold out incredibly fast with no tickets coming my way (myself and the Crew all struct out), I managed to secure six tickets for the show this Friday. Tomorrow night after three straight days of wall-to-wall performances, I'm getting myself back in the thick of things for a performance by the Rocket Man himself.

I'm very excited though, as my parents told me it was a good performance on Wednesday, so now I am even more excited for the experience. I'm hoping it will be akin to Neil Diamond's performance, which was incredibly fantastic facing lowered expectations. Just can't let those get too high, but it's really hard not to fall victim to Hannah's limitless enthusiasm for the show. I just hope it's good so she isn't disappointed, but I have faith the man will bring it like only he can.

The Weekend Edition

Hooray! A weekend down without any ridiculousness like last one! That's what I'm talking about!

What it did feature was wall to wall beautiful weather, very little sleep, and tons of fun. What'd I enjoy this weekend and what did I partake in? Here goes!

• Cooking dinner for the Unit+1 at Kim's
• Pool at Anchorage Billiards Palace
• Baby Mama
• The Homieeeeeeee!
• Driving drunk people home (extremely memorable)
• Finished two books
• Frisbee golf (once with Amy, two rounds with Colver)
• Dami with Amy and Hannah
• Rocking it out with Puma Town
• Downtown with the Crewnit (more on this later)
• Mother's Day breakfast
• Clothes shopping with Colver (this was in no way gay)
• Plotting the new alignment of my apartment with Kim

To stick to some semblance of chronological order, I'll delve into the explanation of the Crewnit now. Amy and her friends (my friends, our friends...whatever) are referred to always as the Crew, however me and my friends (their friends, our friends...whatever) did not have a name. Taking it upon ourselves, we were subsequently named the Unit, after a word frequently used by Colver and occasionally dropped by Kim.

Hence "the Crewnit."

No less, instead of going into super boring details about what happened with the Crewnit, the long story short is that we went downtown to Bernie's and the Shed, danced like idiots, chilled and had a bunch of fun, and bonded in the way only two former rival gangs can: through the consumption of alcohol and hijinks. Photographic evidence below!

Nate, Amy, Lorna, Jon, and Julie - one fifth unit, four fifths crew

Jason, me, Hannah, and Kim - half and half!

I'm totally shocked, because Hannah is trying to eat my face!

Jason, Amy, and I

Jason's face is classic - Nate, Colver, and Jason at the Shed

So that was all in good fun, and I managed to still be able to get up at 7:30 the next morning without wanting to shoot myself because of a lack of sleep or because of hangover. Nice!

I had to get up that early of course because it was Mother's Day, and my dad and I were preparing dinner for both my mom and my two sisters, plus their kids. It was a hellacious feast, featuring a cornucopia of breakfast selections including: scrambled eggs, poached eggs, bacon, maple sausage, biscuits and gravy, a horrifically futile attempt at waffles, toast, and mimosas. Pretty ridiculously delicious, and it was a great time making it, although I did eat far too much.

The three honored ones (mom and sisters) seemed to love it, and it was a great time spending some quality time with family. Plus, anyone knows that if an event involves food, odds are I'm going to love it. Unless that food is liver, and in that case you have found my kryptonite. See photographic evidence of the event below.

Myself and my dad working in the kitchen

Towering over my dad in the midst of cooking

All in all, it was a great and super varied weekend. Can't complain about that! One more weekend to go, and then my big trip to the Pacific Northwest is here. Can't wait, although I have to admit - I'm going to miss Alaska for the week I'm gone because of good times like this.

Sober Guy

After the events of last weekend (cliffs: I drank a bunch, acted like an idiot, was hungover, profit?) I decided that maybe, just maybe, I should take it a bit easier this weekend. So this Friday, I took it real easy. As in I had absolutely nothing to drink.

This worked perfectly though, because we had a couple tasty events going on, as Kim was hosting a dinner party at her place that was going to be attended by Colver, Lorna, and Hannah, with dinner prepared by yours truly and Kim, and then afterwards we were going to go catch Baby Mama. Nice sounding evening right?

Kim and I had decided that we were going to go with a mexican heavy theme, so we were preparing fish and beef tacos and attempting at rocking out some serious chicken mole. Of course, Kim's kitchen is alternately maddeningly light in terms of useful spices and tools of cooking and very entertaining in the difficulty it provides. However, Kim and I rocked out to the National while we cooked and prepared a very nice spread.

If I do say so myself, the fish tacos were the best, as whoever cooked them brilliantly seasoned them, and added splashes of lime and cilantro to really bring out the taste. Oh wait! That was me. I rule!

Our attempt at chicken mole was a bit more dicey, as Kim and I crafted the sauce with its odd mexican chocolate cake additions and "is it or isn't it cooked yet?" chicken. It was pretty tasty, but a little bland. There is the slightest chance we may not have actually followed the recipe to perfection, and it did feel like there were steps missing.

Overall though, the dinner experience was very good, and it was nice to have Crew representation at what was otherwise a Unit event (more on this later), and Hannah seemed to enjoy herself.

Wait. Did I say "seemed to enjoy herself?" By that I think I meant Kim, Hannah, and Lorna collapsed into their own world after dinner, rapidly jumping from topic to topic ranging from gossip to sheer ridiculousness, with all this fueled by Kim's vast resources of duty free liquor and the bottle of wine Hannah brought over. Colver and I did all we could to survive, as we quickly hid in the living room and talked about our fantasy teams and sports in general.

Thank god. I didn't think we'd make it for a bit.

After an hour and a half of this, we decided to leave the girls to their own devices and head off and play some pool at a local pool hall before the movie. It was fun as per usual, with Colver and I ranging from wildly impressive to horribly embarassing at the game, and the waitress who works there continues to love me (or so I assume, she constantly sneaks glances over at me all the time both times we were there - of course given events from today it may just be because my face is covered with dirt).

Afterwards, we met up with the triumvriate, and they were all wired and ridiculous. Entertaining, but man they were totally jazzed and I was unsure as to how the rest of the theater would handle our hijinks. Thankfully, it was a comedy so wild laughter was not only expected by encouraged, so the threesome fit right in.

Overall, I was impressed with Baby Mama, which managed to defy its chick flick confines and be a damn entertaining film. Of course, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler can make that happen easily, plus a cast featuring Greg Kinnear, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Martin, and Conrad from Weeds definitely can do that.

Afterwards, it was already midnight and I was 150% sober. So what did we do? We went to Eagle River to go to the Homestead Lounge, the bar of bars and home turf for the Crew. Of course, along the way there was oodles of entertainment, including the fun of yelling along to music along the way (I drove myself - I was driving Hannah and Kim from Hannah's place) and the awesome motorcyclist who was blaring the music off his ride. What was he listening to? He was listening to Snow's "Informer." Yes, there was a time in my life I liked that song. Yes, that is now the single worst song ever made.

But god, that was hilarious! This is a man with no shame!

The Homestead was of course not disappointing at all, although I started to get this bad feeling from the visit there. Is this what drunk people are like? Good god! They are ridiculous! There was this one woman who spent the entire night grinding on guys who may or may not have been dead, dancing like a stripper on the dance floor, and then dancing with an enormous man who had one move: torso and arms? You simulate an airplane. Lower half? Pelvic thrust only. She was definitely the MVP of entertainment for the night.

It seemed as if the whole bar experience was a "scared straight" ad speaking out against drinking. I kept getting the feeling while there that I am at least 13 times as ridiculous as those people (Hannah, Nate, Kim - feel free to confirm) which was alternately terrifying and fun to theorize what it'd be like.

Hannah and Olena at the Homie

It was a bit dead though, as most everyone in the crew had retired and we were left with just Sally, Olena, and Nate. We spent most of our time people watching and playing foosball (the Homie's new table rocks!), although I did discover one thing: being the only sober person in a two on two foosball game makes you look like the greatest player EVER. It was like David Beckham versus a high school team, and it was fun as hell.

Shortly thereafter, we retired and I took Hannah and Kim home for bed. Of course the night did not end there.

Oh no sir, it did not.

I had told Amy that I would be DD for her and Cate, as it was Cate's bday. Did I say earlier that people at the Homie were ridiculous? Those people ain't got nothing on this group! The experience was essentially forty minutes straight of searching for people (within the Koots parking lot and extending to many miles away), a flurry of insults and affirmations coming from Amy (which was great, because it definitely kept me on my toes), and Cate's unique form of drunken baby talk coming from the back seat. All that, and that isn't even mentioning the roving fleet of amped up Geo Metros that were apparently racing for pinks on the way back to Cate's place.

Shortly after 3:45, I made it home. This whole night started as a sober night that was supposed to be light on the ridiculousness and heavy on the fun, and one that would provide me the opportunity for plenty of rest. Two of the four goals were accomplished, as I didn't have a single drink and did have a lot of fun, but good lord - no sleep and SO MUCH ridiculousness.

All in good fun, but this definitely gives me a fresh perspective on what it must be like for sober people in bars. To all those people, I have to ask this: why do you go to bars?! That's the question of the night for sure. Well...maybe not. Why that guy was listening to "Informer" may actually trump that.

The Weekend Edition

Ugh.

That's what I have to say about this weekend.

Ugh.

It was a great time, don't get me wrong, but good god am I tired. Also, in typical David fashion, I have a deeply ingrained feeling that I made a total fool of myself but really, when do I not feel like that coming out of a weekend? That's a rhetorical question, but if it was answered there is only one answer to be had - never.

Now that that's been said, what'd I do this weekend?

• Watched Iron Man with Colver (good, but not spectacular)
• Watched Elizabethtown/Metal Videos/Ate Grilled Cheese at Amy's
• Read a bunch
• Fifth Day (More on this later)
• Free Comic Day - Best Day Ever
• Frisbee Golf with a posse
• Late lunch at Snow Goose
• Early dinner at La Mex
• Rocking!
• Partying downtown
• Watched the first disc of How I Met Your Mother season 2

Saturday is the bit I want to get into, as it was a heck of a day and a very packed one at that.

Amy ferociously consuming a McChicken

The Crew celebrates Cinco de Mayo yearly with a ridiculously alcoholic goal/celebration: drink a fifth on the fifth. In lieu of the fact that Cinco de Mayo is on a Monday this year (it's a shame really), Saturday was substituted this year. This was my first go round with this highly poisonous but likely fun day. How did it go?

Enjoying the sun on a beautiful Saturday

It was awesome! It was a strange feeling to be consuming that business all day, but it was really fun, especially considering all of the events that were going on. I picked up new sunglasses, went to Bosco's for Free Comic Day (first Saturday every May - best day ever man!), played a really fun round of Frisbee Golf, had lunch at Snow Goose, dinner at La Mex, rocked...you name it, we did it.

Nick and Sharpe playing Frisbee Golf at Westchester

The day started out as just Amy and I, but throughout the day others joined in, including (but not limited to): Jason, Jon, Hannah, Nate, Briana, Sharpe, Nick, Johnny, and a host of others. Amy and I were the only ones that went all the way with it though, which I'm unsure as to whether or not that is good for us or bad for us. Who knows these things? It's a little impressive, and a little depressing at the same time.

Hannah, myself, and Amy on the deck at Snow Goose

As much fun as it was (and it was a ton of fun, as you can likely see in the pictures) it also kind of served as an eye opener. First off, no one should ever consume that much. Ever. It just isn't natural. Second off, I make horrible decisions under the influence. I'm dumb and clumsy 99.9% of the time, adding layers of difficulty to situations by drinking is not exactly the smartest thing I could ever do. For all of the fun I had, I'm still sitting here at my computer wishing I hadn't done some things and crossing my fingers nothing comes back to bite me in the butt.

Hannah and I in maybe the best Rock Band picture ever

Everyone always drops the immortal phrase after a night of drinking: "I'm never going to drink that much again." As cliche as it is at this point, I'm going to take the time to say it one more time. Once more, with feeling. I'm never going to drink that much again. Ever. I was once told I'm an all or nothing guy, and that is an absolute fact about me if there ever has been one. I'm all in all the time, and it's about time for that to stop. So starting right now, I'm taking a step towards better understanding and applying the concept of moderation.

Briana and Amy

Shocking that it took 24 years for me to commit to such an easy concept huh?

Nate, Jon, me, and Jason

With that note, that's enough of that. There's a difference between learning lessons from mistakes and wallowing in them. The key to mending what you've harmed is going back to how you were before, not making a big deal of it, and not making that mistake again. Which is what I'm going to do.

Amy, myself, and Hannah

Back to the point though: it was a ton of fun. I had a great time. Sure, there are regrets, but to quote the single greatest film ever made (that's Bubble Boy for those that are wondering): "Don't live life with regret, ese." Boo to them I say! I got a ton of awesome pictures with my new camera, added a few more chapters to the Legend of David, acted a damn fool, met some new people, and partied down with great friends. What more could I ask for out of a Saturday evening, as a horribly irresponsible and slightly ridiculous young adult? Not much I say.

Myself and the crew - I'm the one in the world's gayest pose

It's more than a feeling

As per usual, the weekend ruled. It was very eventful, and I had a lot of fun. Similar to last weekend, instead of going into storytelling mode (which seemingly ends up making it sound pretty boring) I'm going to give a Cliff's Notes version, followed up by expanding a bit on some subjects. So why did this weekend rule?

• Battlestar Galactica rocked
• Red Robin - predictably delicious, but I don't know why
• Pool at Anchorage Billiards Palace
• Breakfast with parents at Snow City
• Playing basketball with Colver
• Finishing two books
• Best Pad Thai ever - made by yours truly
• Tons and tons of food at McGinley's
• The crazy run down the corridor from Bernie's to Sub Zero with Jason and Jon
• Dancing like an idiot at Platinum Jaxx
• Slow Mo Rollers
• McDonalds at 3 am
• Proof that I will not in fact collapse into an insular shell when Amy moves

Now THAT is a bulleted list! 13 bullets, how about that? It was a great weekend, and those are just the base details. Now one thing is missing from that, and that was one of the best two hour rock sessions in the history of Rock Band. Given that we were missing our lead singer Amy and that we had an overabundance of people (in the rock rotation were myself, Jon, Jason, Hannah, and Julie), the whole situation was set up to be a failure of rock. The odds on us properly managing the situation with no one getting bored and everyone having maximum fun was definitely on the low side.

Jon on guitar, Jason on drums and vocals (mic hanging like a boxing announcer), myself on bass

However, we proved once again that we are in fact supreme rock gods, as we took the difficulties the situation provided and ran with them. We innovated, as instead of having set positions throughout the night, everyone was alternating. I played drums, bass, guitar and sang, - and well! I beat two songs on hard on drums, which isn't bad because I never play them. We tried three person bands - with Jason singing and drumming on "Say It Ain't So" by Weezer and myself playing lead guitar and doing vocals on "Sabotage" by Beastie Boys (over 90% on guitar AND vocals, with the levels being expert and medium respectively). Plus, Hannah totally rocked the vocals with a rousing rendition of "El Scorcho" by Weezer - Rivers Cuomo, eat your heart out.

Myself rocking the guitar and vocals on "Sabotage"

On top of that, we went on Xbox Live and challenged people to rock offs, with Jason and myself taking wins on drums and guitar respectively, although Jon lost his matchups as I believe he may have been playing Slash and Eddie Van Halen on Xbox Live. We represented our current band (the Rusty Doorknobs) very well online though, as we rocked very hard.

Rock Band is really an abnormal video game. It's the type of game that is massively entertaining for everyone, and it is pretty much the best way to prepare for a great night on the town. Who doesn't want to go out feeling like a rock star, really? It's a great sensation, and last night it worked incredibly well as it put everyone in a great mood - during an especially tight performance of Boston's classic "More than a Feeling" you could literally feel the mood, it was as if there was a buzz in the air from the fun generated by this game. Afterwards, I looked around grinning, and then someone chimed in with "man, this is going to be a good night."

It was, and I can at least partially thank the geniuses at Harmonix for that. I think at this point I can safely say that Rock Band is one of my favorite games ever, and I'm sure there are a few people who were playing last night that would certainly agree with me on that.

Tuesday is the best day of the week [Reprise]

As some of you may remember, way back in the day on my blog (see post here) I had claimed that Wednesday was the best day of the week. It had it all! New comics! Lost! Trivia Night! How could that be beat? Well, a number of things happened to bring down the quality a little bit. First off, Hooters closed which effectively killed trivia night. Second off, Lost moved to Thursday. Finally, it is still the standard comic day, but one in every five Wednesday's don't even bring my sweet, sweet comics into my grasp (like today).

So even though it is still very lustrous as comic days have only gotten better (seriously, combine becoming friends with Will and Jared from my comic shop with the major events that are happening right now - Secret Invasion AND Final Crisis - well, let's just say my visits are satisfiying) and Colver and I have picked up Wednesday as our official day to go play basketball and show off our mad hops and elite dunking skills. So it's still a great day.

However, last night Tuesday launched it's first salvo in what may become a very ferocious war for "best day of the week" (clearly weekends are exempted - they're weekends! they are obviously the best), as three fantastic events went down for the first time, with one being a weekly repeat for sure and the other two potentially standing up as weekly or bi-weekly events. What were they?

• Trivia Night v 2.0
• Foosball at Koots
• Rock Band at Koots

As we discovered last night, the Drunken Cowboys (back from the dead!) may have found a new home at one of the least likely of places - Eddie's Sports Bar. Arguably a bit of dive, Eddie's essentially has become the spiritual descendant of Hooters, except it may in fact be somewhat less classy (as unbelievable as that sounds). However, it does have a few things going for it.

• Fast paced
• Reasonable questions
• FREE!
• Cheap Taco Bar!
• Shuffleboard, Darts, and Pool
• Decent service

Of course, it misses a little somethin' somethin' that Hooters had going on, it was still really fun and very packed. Strangely enough, considering Humpy's is a far "cooler" bar, it seemingly is by far the worst of the three trivia nights. I personally can't wait for next week, as we almost won and the money is carrying over to next week ($400!! Bling bling!).

In addition, they have two man team Sports trivia on Thursday's, which Colver and I will start attending next week. This is where I will likely unleash my fury, as I have a rather encyclopedic knowledge of all things sports. Besides gymnastics. I know nothing about gymnastics.

After this, we were nearing the revelation of Rock Band supergroup Bitchface (as we've so colorfully named ourselves) starring the one time Hey Hermano and current Puma Town singer, guitarist, and drummer...aka Amy, myself, and Jason, and the shredding champion of Eagle River band Five Star Whammy...aka Jon. We went a while early to hang out and have a couple drinks (don't worry kids, I know it was a school night plus I had a blood test the next day - all water for me, so the night was cheap!) and play some Foosball.

As some may know, I've always despised Foosball. I generally don't like doing things I'm bad at, and I was terrible at Foosball. However, since getting involved with the crew, their overwhelming passion for the sport has rubbed off on me a bit, and after playing A LOT I've become not bad at the game. At times good, but I make a ton of dumb mistakes still. Regardless, the teams were Jason and myself (fresh off of a 4-0 evening at the Homestead Lounge two weekends previous) and the shooting stars that are Amy and Jon. Now if I was going to do a ranking on skills of us four, it'd likely go as follows.

1. Amy
2. Jon
3. Jason
4. Me

However, in true sporting fashion the most talent does not always win. No sir it does not. This time, the best team won. That team? The Slo Mo Rollers, starring Jason and myself. We took five of six games from the absolutely shocked Amy and Jon, as they simply could not handle Jason's staunch defense, my magical dribbling up front, and our perplexing off-speed shots.

It was about as much fun as I've ever had playing Foosball, and honestly, we may have taken five of six but every possession and game were close (besides one, where we shut them out). I'd say it was Foosball on steroids, but that be a bit cliche, although there was a lot of yelling and hooting and hollering. Mostly from yours truly.

After our six games, we were totally ready to rock. Sadly, Rock Band was not in the Swing Bar at Koots like we thought, with the wide open spaces of that bar but a dream as we had to go and play in the weird bar in the entry way of Koots. It's tight, confined spaces were not ideal for Bitchface's premiere, but in typical fashion for the band, we persevered if only in the name of rock.

Of course, the situation wasn't helped by the fact the first song we played Jason had to drum on lefty mode (as we didn't know how to switch) and myself and Jon were using sub-par house guitars. We're used to having room to move, kick, and dance with my wide open living room and our two cordless guitars. This was with a Guitar Hero 2 wired controller (bleh!) and a Rock Band wired controller (even worse than the first!).

From left: Random stranger, Jason, and Amy rocking at Koots

But that's enough for excuses. We still totally rocked, starting off with old standby "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi, which I totally blew at to start (the intro always bugs me on expert) but picked it up and we manged to do OK. We followed it up with a far better run through on "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath and then an even better yet rendition of Oasis' classic ballad "Wonderwall," which we even had an audience member sing along to (thanks guy!!).

About that point a guy came over and bugged us to let him play, and I let him take my spot. He was not good, as he played on medium and forced crappy songs on the band, bringing our overall appeal down. Bad stranger!

However, after two songs he departed and Bitchface ended our inaugral performance with a rousing rendition of Weezer's classic track off the Blue Album, "Say It Ain't So." All four of us played expert, and we finished at 90% (Jason on drums, rock on!), 96% (myself on guitar), 97% (Jon on bass), and 98% for our showoff, diva of a lead singer Amy. Five stars, foooo shoooo.

All in all, it was a great experience. It won't necessarily be an every week thing, but it was definitely a lot of fun. I really hope someone puts on a Rock Band competition that we can participate in, as that was what we were really hoping for. However, we did the best with what we had and we had a great night. Even better, it was a ton of fun and I spent $1 (on Foosball) and all that I had to drink was about 10 glasses of water.

Oh Tuesdays...how I love thee.

Why can't it always be the weekend?

This weekend was pretty much stellar. Nearly everything about it was fantastic (some small things really bug me, but nothing is perfect) and I enjoyed the heck out of the whole thing. Sadly enough I am without one shred of photographic evidence even though I managed to have my camera the whole time. How does that happen?!

Anyways, instead of giving a very lengthy breakdown of everything that happened, I'll do a Cliff's Notes version with a bit more detail afterwards.

Top 10 reasons why this weekend ruled

1. Claire d'Loon
2. Rocking with Puma Town
3. Better Letter
4. Palmer Trip
5. BBQ at Jason's
6. BIG BEN!!!
7. The Homie
8. AK Wild
9. Ryan Zimmerman's walk off blast
10. The Crew

1. Amy and I are big fans of fancy dinners. There is something awesome about having a really nice dinner with a great friend, sharing a bottle of wine and having delicious food. We've typically went to Mixx Grill, but this time we decided to (oh god, pun alert...) mix it up and go to Claire d'Loon. The experience was exceptional as the strange little bistro that was Da Loon turned out to be excellent, in spite of the fact that there were literally no other patrons and that they played Kenny G. Our food was great, our waitress looked exactly like Naomi Watts, and it was a great time having dinner with Amy like always. A+ experience.

2. Due to Lacey leaving, our Rock Band experience has been nameless lately essentially as we had to abandon the Hey Hermano moniker. As Amy, Hannah, Jason, and I still wanted to play, we needed a new band name. Friday night, we had our first session as rock superstars Puma Town. It was amazing, as Princess Btown, Whammy Town, Blaze Town, and T-Rex Town all melted faces and we downloaded 6 new songs, the new Boston song pack and "El Scorcho" by Weezer. Puma Town rules.

3. Amy and I crafted our fourth exceptional cover letter as our fledgling business continues to grow. This one may have been our best one yet, and it was a grand and very rewarding time like it always is.

4. Late Saturday afternoon, Hannah, Kim, Amy, and I drove out to Palmer to get coffee. Yes. We drove three towns away to get coffee. And it was delicious, fun, and well worth the trip.

5. In a freak occurrence, I managed to be in Eagle River three consecutive days. My bubble is getting dangerously close to being burst at this point. Saturday evening Jason had a get together at his place as he had bought a new BBQ, and we grilled up burgers and steaks and had a great time drinking and being merry. BBQ season is making me very happy, and it's as early as it has ever been.

6. At the BBQ, I played old reliable drinking game Kings Cup for the first time since college. Due to an extreme lack of alcohol, we played a highly modified and far more fun version of the game, more based off interactivity and less off volume consumed. I highly recommend incorporating the rule called Big Ben as the new rule for the ten card. It involves standing up and forming a clock tower over your head with your arms. It's pretty amazing.

7. The Homestead Lounge is the bar in Eagle River. I'm sure it isn't the only bar there, but from my experience it might as well be. It was my second experience out there, and it was a great time again. Any night that features winning all four of my games of foosball, dancing the Cuban Shuffle, and a bizarre bald man that was utterly shocked by me washing my hands has to be considered a success.

8. Hannah, Jason, Colver, Lorna, and I attended the AK Wild's second home game today. The AK Wild is Alaska's second year Intense Football League team, and amazingly enough we won our second game this season in just four attempts (took us 11 attempts last year). It was a great time, being a far smoother experience than the first game this season and being more strangely entertaining as well (unintelligible referees + hilarious linesmen crew + mega wave = hilarious good time).

9. The Washington Nationals officially kicked off the season against the Atlanta Braves today (sorry Red Sox and A's, this felt like the real start to the season) in style, with Ryan Zimmerman launching a blast with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to win their season opener. Perfect way to start the season I say.

10. Last but not least, the Crew. I have to admit, it's been a while since I've had a full gang of people to hang out with at any time, but it feels great to have one again. The friends I've made through Amy are awesome, and this entire weekend was full of them. Hooray for the Crew! You make your country proud.

So yeah, it was a great weekend. This somehow still ended up being fairly long, and I casually omitted some things that went less well (the end of the Homie experience was not as good as the preceding hours...I'll leave it at that) but all in all, it was an awesome experience. Why can't it always be the weekend?