Wash Away

I don't really ever listen to the radio anymore, so finding new music to listen to gets pretty slow. Over the past couple of years, I've found that I my main source of new music, other than word of mouth, is the TV. Smallville has been a great source, introducing me to an amazing band, Kings of Convenience. In the early days of the show, I used to download all the songs I could find on Kazaa. I've probably bought 4 or 5 albums just because I heard the artist on Smallville.

One new show I've been watching each week this season is ABC's Lost. The final song they played in the week 4 episode really caught my attention. I'm really big into quiet, thoughtful lyrics these days, so this song by Joe Purdy hit the spot.

Wash Away - Joe Purdy
I've got troubles
Oh, but not today
Cause they're gonna wash away
They're gonna wash away.

I've got sins, Lord
But not today
Cause they're gonna wash away
They're gonna wash away.

And, oh, I've been crying
Oh, I've been crying
And, oh, no more crying
Oh, no more crying.

You can check out his website for quite a few free mp3's, as well as lyrics to his albums on cdbaby.com.

Quite contemplative as of late. Also very lazy, so that's why none of those thoughts have made their way here. I've started several entries, but just didn't know where to take them.

It's been good hanging out with a good friend of mine from church, Gabe. It's funny how much I have in common with a high school sophomore. All the issues he's dealing with right now, I pretty much am too. Stuff with girls, being a guy, growing up, and how to make God the center of it all. Challenges and makes me rethink a lot of my assumptions. Makes me question deeper. I like that.

A bunch of my housemates and I decided to head down to Fenway last night for the final game of the World Series. Five of us piled into my roommate's car, and we headed down there, ready to celebrate and take tons of photos. We got there around the end of the 6th inning, but none of the bars would let people in that late in the game. So we stayed out on the streets.

Then the riot police started coming in. They started off with a show of force, marching up and down the main street near Fenway Park. By the end of the 8th inning, the crowd had gotten huge, overflowing into the streets. The riot police got into a line, and started trying to control the crowd with force before the game was even over.

I stayed near the police, as I wanted to get some good photos, but I didn't want to get shot with mace. I stayed off to the side, and ended up being pretty safe as the police most respected those with cameras. The police were outfitted in full riot gear, complete with body armor, face shields, and monstrous batons that looked like they could have been used batting in the World Series. When they started getting out their gas masks, I knew trouble was about to start. They had already started our adrenaline pumping by striking several members of the crowd with their batons. Some of the angry crowd started taunting and throwing bottles at the police. Some of the more daring, less intelligent fans started getting very close to the now stationary line of riot police.

Then two policemen stepped forward in unison, and held out what looked like hoses. Pressurized liquid mace was then loosed on the closest members of the crowd, and it started a stampede. One guy was completely drenched in mace, and the police started moving forward again. I couldn't really tell what his thoughts were, but he was soon on the ground. Perhaps he was in great pain, and perhaps it was a ploy for martyrdom, but the riot police were soon on top of him. They hosed him down again, and this time started striking him with their batons and kicking him. He started moving pretty quickly at that point.

As best I could figure, the police were pushing the crowd down the street in an effort to separate the celebrating fans into multiple groups. It seemed apparent that they were trying to avoid one giant crowd to control. At about this point, the World Series ended. Cheering erupted, and the police halted their advance.

At this point, we looked down the street and could see masses pouring into the Fenway area. People started climbing up poles, trees, or anything they could find. Some of the more creative fans had brought brooms and were chanting, "SWEEP! SWEEP! SWEEP!" My housemates and I celebrated for about a half an hour, and then decided to take off. Things were starting to get a bit crazy, and we didn't want to be literally caught in the crossfire.

We made our way home, all of us without incident. It definitely ranks as one of the most memorable experiences of my life, and I'm quite glad we went down there.

Entry posted by byscuits at 04:01 PM | Comments (3)

Red Sox Nation

After last night, I kind of have to write today. Did any of you see game 7 of the American League Championship Series (ALCS)? It was amazing. For those of you that don't follow baseball (I understand that some people don't. I didn't before I lived in Boston), I'll give a short recap on this past week's events. The ALCS is a best of 7 series, and this year it was between the Red Sox and the Yankees. The Yankees won the first 3 games, which means they only needed one more game. No team in baseball history had ever come back from a 3-0 deficit. But the fans still believed. Still they hoped. With signs that read, "Why not us?" Red Sox faithful did not give up on a dream that had so often before been crushed.

In an historic series of events, the Sox pushed the series to a game seven last night. The Red Sox rallied to win 3 games straight, something no team had ever done before in baseball. And last night they soundly drummed the Yankees 10-3. It was a stress-free game to watch, as the Red Sox got up early and scored often. I think there was only one inning where the Sox didn't have someone on base. Here is the final paragraph from the New York Times article on the matter:

It was actually happening. The nerd was kissing the homecoming queen. Paper was beating scissors; scissors were beating rock. Charlie Brown was kicking the football. The Red Sox were beating the Yankees for the American League pennant.

A housemate of mine (thanks Aaron) also informed me that there would be tickets on sale today via phone. It would be amazing if I could get tickets.

This ALCS was great because, as my housemate Andy put it, the series was all about redemption. Curt Schilling pitched in game one, and treally didn't deliver. Johnny Damon had a .103 average from the series heading into game seven. Mark Bellhorn was attrocious the first five games of the series, and lead the league in strikeouts this season. Then in game six, Bellhorn hit a 3 run homer that won the game. That same night in game six, Curt Schilling pitched an amazing game. Lasting a full six innings, Schill played the entire game with a sprained and bloody ankle. But he played through the pain, and pitched one of the most amazing, clutch games I may ever see. And then there was game seven last night. With the bases loaded in the second inning, Johnny Damon smashed the ball over the right field wall, hitting the second grand slam ever in Red Sox postseason history. In his next at bat, he hit another homerun, this time scoring 2. Damon had a total of 6 RBI's in a the game, setting and ALCS record. It was a series of redemption.

And so the Red Sox did what no team has ever done in baseball. I think it would even be safe to say it was the greatest comeback in all of sports history. You may not follow sports or baseball much, but maybe this will pique your interest in what has quickly become my favorite spectator sport.

But the full story has not yet been told. In this next chapter of the World Series, we get to see if Charlie Brown can kick a winning field goal.

Go Sox.

Entry posted by byscuits at 11:02 AM | Comments (4)

Wingwoman?

Is Goose obsolete?

I just found this article on nytimes.com. Apparently, you can now hire a woman in NYC, not to be your date, but to help you get dates. A wingwoman, if you will. I find this service to be uber sketchy, but it isn't too hard to understand why the service is so sucessful. The article is here.

Entry posted by byscuits at 04:48 PM | Comments (2)

Back from Cali

I just got back from a trip to San Fran to hang out with three friends from my floor in college. Two of them flew out from Chicago and we all met up at ryanp's place. It was quite a bit of fun, complete with barbequeing fish at sunset on the beach, watching sunset over the bay on a rickety wooden "no trespassing" powerline utility bridge, and a full day of wine tasting in the Napa and Sonoma Vallies.

The first day of the trip, Thursday, was the most packed. To round out the day in the late afternoon, the four of us took the top down convertible to Half Moon Bay. Along the way, we picked up some salmon, sea bass, and ahi tuna for grilling on the beach. There was very heavy fog at the local beach, so we drove down the coast looking for a clearer view of sunset. Realizing that the sun was going down quickly, we settled for the next beach along the road. Unfortunately, it closed at sunset and only allowed grilling in their designated pits. There was no one supervising the beach, so we decided not to worry about it. We took the grill, the fish, and the wine (did I mention the wine?) out onto a secluded cliff. I prepared the fish with a little lemon juice, soy sauce, and crushed red pepper while Mike ignited the coals. Ryanp was feeling a bit uneasy, and around sunset went down to check the parking lot. All of the other cars were gone, except for ours. And a second car. A truck, actually. A truck with a ranger (not sure what he was really). We thought about just leaving the car there, staying hidden right where we were. But if we did that, they would lock the gates and our car would be stuck there until sunrise. That didn't seem like a good option, but we had just put the fish on the grill a few minutes prior. If the ranger decided to come looking for us, we could get in a good deal of trouble. Let me list the possible fines:

1. drinking alcohol.
2. a fire in our own grill
3. out past sunset
4. any others I'm missing?

Mike and Ryan came up with an idea, and we put it into action. Ryan and I ran down to the car, just as the ranger was checking out the plates. We apologized for being late, and he told us it was no problem. We drive the car out of the gated area, and drove a little way down the highway. After a couple of miles, we backtracked and parked down a side highway near the beach. Ryan and I then snuck back into the beach and met up with Mike and James, who had been keeping the fish warm for us. This bit of quick thinking headed off some potential fines, of which we only ended up with a ticket for parking illegally on a highway. Not so bad.

I have not acted that crazy in quite some time. It was like being with my old college friends brought out the person I was back in my earlier college days, both the good and the bad. It was fun to return to being a good deal more free-spirited (crazier?), but along with that, for some reason, came me being pretty much a selfish ass. Not sure what the relationship between the two is, but I'm still thinking about it. It is so hard to change, and so easy to regress.

Entry posted by byscuits at 12:30 PM | Comments (2)