another in a series of holiday themed posts

The Sunday Halloween that looms on the horizon is actually good for several reasons: the pressure is off to make Halloween night extra fun, because it's a Sunday. This means that I can rotate costumes all weekend, as it is certain that there will be festivities Friday, Saturday and the dreaded Sunday. I've been planning on being a sex robot -- what is a sex robot? This is an excellent question. Many years ago, back in the college days, the roommates Amber and Shant and I were watching some type of daytime entertainment (Riki Lake? Jenny Jones? MoPo?) and some 14 year old goth kid had been dragged in by his mom for a makeover. Riki (or Jenny, or Maury) asked him about how kids at school viewed him. His response was something like "All the kids at school dress to fit into a group -- I mean, there's the preps, the jocks, the punks, the goths, you know, the sex robots..." Umm, excuse me? The sex robots? I figured it was time for me to interpret this. Although, yesterday Brett suggested we go as the Futurists. Nick suggested this means we wear all black and go around stabbing people. I also think we would have to strap some sort of amplifier to ourselves and play feedback. Edgy!

This is about all I could see at the Kerry rally. 30,000 people and 20,000 signs being held up in front of me.  

in the air tonight?

Excuse my Genesis reference.

Even though we have all been bombarded with propaganda and media and polls, polls, polls, I can't help but a feel a little bit excited about the upcoming elections. It's probably a combination of fear and excitement, but honestly, it's just really nice to see so many people reading the newspaper (for whatever that's worth these days) and talking about policy. Granted, I haven't been nearly as involved as I should be, which does make me feel like I'm leaching other people's excitement, but it certainly is invigorating. It's like the post-season, except if my team doesn't win, we're all screwed.

Having said all that, I'm off to the John Kerry rally at the Metrodome. Hopefully I can still buy peanuts.

watch yr back

dudes. It's 10-13.

Silenced Again

Sometimes I wonder what the point of having a team is if we're just going to blow it to the Yankees every year. The only good part was that Saturday, whilst picking up the remains of a bachelorette party at the downtown Radisson, I saw the Yanks standing in front of the hotel waiting to be taken to the Metrodome. I slowed down, rolled down my window, and quite eloquently yelled "YANKEES SUCK -- TWINS RULE!!" And then they proceeded to kick our asses. I'm still going to get a Twins tattoo. The Yankees can't stop me. Ha! So, good luck to the Red Sox. I really hope they beat that Jeter bastard into the ground.

stamp

I never know what the date is until I turn the dial on my date stamp every morning at work. It never even occurs to me until I start stamping checks. Either I'm going crazy, the caffeine/wine cycle is taking it's toll, or I am beyond time.

Canadians for Kerry

Two words: Neil Young. Neil Young! When someone calls you at 4pm and asks if you want to go see REM/Bruce Springsteen in a few hours, the logical answer is yes, even if you were planning on settling into another post season, with game one of the Twins vs. Yanks starting at the same time. And oh man, was it worth it. Not only did REM and the Boss play their rock and roll hearts out for the Democratic Party, but f'ing Neil Young showed up. Did I mention Neil Young was there? Neil Young. He was wearing a giant Canada button and looked like he walked straight out of Hard Times. His hair blew back from his face as he played the f**k out of that guitar. I never actually thought I would see a live, election-year, electric performance of Keep On Rocking in the Free World. One of the most interesting aspects was that all the bands seemed really energetic and congenial. They wanted to be there, they wanted everyone in the audience to vote for Kerry, they wanted to play together, they wanted to have extended guitar battles with Neil Young (who was clearly the winner). Other highlights included:

* Really amazing seats (thanks Nick, Emma, and the 21st Century Democrats)
* Watching Al Franken dance
* Watching Al Franken dance next to Michael Stipe
* Bruuuce and Michael Stipe singing Because the Night
* Watching the Twins game in the concourse between sets - the umpires retracting Bernie Williams homerun.
* Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young doing "All Along the Watchtower"
* The Boss announcing the Twins victory
* Born. To. Run.
* Did I mention NEIL YOUNG?

And of course realizing that people actually care about politics enough to come together and yell for a few hours. There is nothing more attractive than strong convictions.