blog.big-woop.com

I finished Harry Potter. I also stopped writing in the second person. This thing was starting to sound like one of those Lone-Wolf-Choose-Your-Own-Adventure things. I'm retarded.

The hum-drum I was complaining about has since been punctured. The usual family force -- of four -- has expanded two-fold, plus one, gaining in the process two cousins, an aunt, an uncle and a Mimi. To that, we will add -- I believe -- three more tomorrow (later today), then five more after that, bringing the grand total to something like seventeen. Eighteen if you count the dog. But you shouldn't count the dog, because she's retarded... and a canine.

Anna returns tomorrow (Saturday). Or maybe it's the day after that (Sunday; I can't remember. I haven't been in her presence for a week, which means I've started to forget things -- Important things like where she went in the first place. I know it was a Dakota. Either North or South. I'm really not sure which. Does that make me a bad boyfriend?). I'm really excited to see her again. Joe comes back soon, too (I think; I guess I listened to him even less close than Anna. Wow. I'm bad at this.). Ben went somewhere. I'm presuming he'll be back at some point.

The past week was kind of a whirlwind: While simultaneously complaining about having nothing to do during the day, I had everything to look forward to doing at night; namely the raucous time at John's house -- his parents were out of town -- that would follow.

It was nothing, though, really. I don't think the total for any one night exceeded seven. Regardless, it was a lot of fun. Unsupervised fun, to boot. We must have watched Event Horizon two times. Or maybe just twice. It's a brilliant science fiction movie equipped with a moderately well-known cast, including a pre-Matrix Laurence Fishburne, a fairly decent script, (given the) bullshit plot, and a whole shitload of blood and guts. And both of the black guys survive almost the entire movie! How brilliantly innovative is that? Plus, Sam Neil's character goes absolutely berserk and -- à la Oedipus Rex -- rips out both his eyeballs. Rent it. Now.

Peace.
-Todd

Wait a minute. Something's amiss. You've hit the middle of the summer and you don't really have a whole lot to do. That's cool though, because you're surrounded by friends who understand your plight. No; they're in Michigan, One of the two Dakotas (I can't remember which), Wisconsin, and Germany. And the rest aren't lazy and do have jobs.

So what do you do?

It's this close (pinch thumb and forefinger nearly together) to raining outside and you don't much feel like getting doused. You've already read the newspaper, including the ads, and attempted to finish the insurmountably huge and difficult Sunday crossword. You've already solved the Jumble [AUBURN COOPER BRANDY ROSARY ORPHAN TRIBAL What kind of case was it for the great detective? OPEN AND SHUT] and you don't like the Word Scrimmage. The comics, on the whole, were above par. But you haven't read them in weeks, so you wouldn't know what par is anyway.

Your mom and brother, in cahoots, have stolen your new copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, of which you had already read a hundred or so pages, just when things started to pick up. But you can't pry it from the collective vise-grip they have on the thing.

You're too bored to think of a way to get un-bored, mindlessly click-clacking away at your computer, telling no one of things about which they don't care in the least.

Peace.
-Todd

If I didn't know better, I'd have assumed I'd fallen off the face of the earth.

But I do know better... and I didn't. I'm just lazy.

Since last time:
My car's odometer hit 159,000 miles. I saw Finding Nemo. I golfed. I got a cell phone (Text me!). I partied some. I took my bike out. I shot a movie. I went to a Twins game.

Wow. That's actually pretty pathetic. I'll bet I did more than that and it actually just seems... no... no... that's pretty much it. Dag, yo.

I have been sleeping a lot. And watching a lot of DVDs. And going to a lot of graduation parties.

Joe's back from wherever the hell he was. I still don't actually know where he went. Ben leaves in a few days. So does Anna. I think Tom comes back soon, though. And Harry Potter comes out on Saturday, so I'll probably still have things to do. Maybe. For a little while.

Peace.
-Todd

Tonight, the Gypsy Mafia has a job. The first one since the New Year's Eve Mannjager 'hit.' For those of you out of the loop, the Gypsy Mafia is not really a mob, and for the sake of those who may have already gone running for the hills, we are not going to kill you, or anyone else for that matter. We're also going to a Twins game. They lost last night, 5-0, to the Rockies, the worst road team in baseball. Losers. I'm sure they'll get back into the swing of things (Y'see what I did there? It was a pun. I italicized 'swing,' because it's a baseball term. Double meaning. Get it? Ha HAH! Forget it.).

Yesterday we (I'm not even going to try to list everyone.) went to the drive-in. The Italian Job, Bruce Almighty, The Matrix Reloaded. I'd already seen them all once. Earlier, Joe and I, being the dorks that we are, decided to surprise our G-Fs at school on their last day, by meeting them after their final... er... final final of the day. Heh.

In the past week, I've bought:
Tom Waits' Heartattack and Vine, Neil Young's Harvest, James Taylor's Sweet Baby James, Kanser's It Wrote Itself, The Flaming Lips' Fight Test EP, Jack Johnson's On And On, Bill Cosby's Wonderfulness, Big Ditch Road's Ring, The New Pornographers' Electric Version, and by the time most of you have read this, Radiohead's Hail to the Thief.

Needless to say, the graduation money is going to good use.

I also got a laser pointer. Nothing spells fun like a laser pointer. Oh god... It's so fun.

I think I'll take out the bike today. Eh. Maybe not. Probably not. Not. Fuck it.

Peace.
-Todd

Yesterday (Wednesday) I graduated from high school and stayed up 'til 7:00 AM singing karaoke, gambling and jumping around a lot.

Today (Thursday) I woke up at 5:00 PM. Around 9:00 I went to Cheapo with Charlie, bought the Mates of State album, used, and went to Geoff's to watch The Animatrix with him and with John. It was pretty rad. A lot of it didn't make sense. After that we went to Wendy's. Then we went back to Wendy's. Then we went to Taylor's Falls for no real reason. It was really foggy. I ran over a raccoon. We got back around 3:00 AM. My car had hit 158,500 in the process. I really just want it to live to see 160,000. That might be wishful thinking, though.

Peace.
-Todd

I don't usually do this, but here is an e-mail I received today. I've taken out all the specifics that let you know about where I'm going to be on what date, because I don't trust you. Pervert.

Peace.

Todd,
I would be more than happy to attend [your open house]... I hope that the end of the year was exciting for you and that you were able to savor the last moments of your youth. Let me tell you something, it is all down hill after high school. All that BS that they put in those college brochures is a crappy smokescreen to the sad reality of girls still ignoring you and academics still kicking your butt. Oh sure, Animal House paints a pretty picture of eating, drinking, and merriment, but that is Hollywood. Before you know it you are trying to stab your eyes out with a compass because the cafeteria enchiladas are waging civil war in you small intestine. Oh well, perhaps you will have an easier time than I did, I guess all that happened because I insisted on bringing my blankie with me everywhere. ...I will be there with bells on.

-Dan