Best Of

Getting a new engine out of the crate swapped into the Kia under warranty

Just drove up to Boston from work in RI for BFMV/Trivium. Told the guys I was going with they had to figure out between themselves driving because I'm not doubling back to RI tonight to drop them off and then go home back in MA. They called my bluff and I'm now solo-going it lmao

Internet is down so I pulled the ps2 out and busted the old band dvds out. Hell yeah. 

I went to see Napalm Death and The Melvins Sunday night. I’ve seen both bands countless times, so it was mostly for my kids experience. Several years ago, one of my closest friends died from heat stroke. He had battled severe mental issues and drug problems our entire adulthood. He passed away with 2 young kids. I never got along with his wife though, so my interaction with his kids has been minimal. About a year or so ago, his wife reached out to me and told me his oldest was interested in what music he liked. I made him a playlist of everything on Spotify and shared it and sorta started talking to him. He’s actually impressed me with the depth of his music knowledge. He’s 14 and already has dug into crust punk, grindcore and noise metal. I was actually worried about him because getting into that sort of stuff can put you into incel territory. Anyway, he mentioned he was planning on going to see Napalm Death. That kinda helped me decide to go. I went ahead and got my 2 older kids tickets, too. My kids are…different. While they’ve grown up as my kids getting exposed to my music, they’ve also grown up in Trap Music country, so even though they go to hardcore and death metal shows with me, they will alternate it with Travis Scott, Ken Carson and Destroy Lonely concerts. My 12 year old daughter is funny and likes to stir the pot, so she went to this show dressed sorta like one of the girls off Bring It On, with sweat pants and a halter top. She stuck out in the crowd like a sore thumb. So I met up with my friend’s son early. I was relieved that he was there with his girlfriend lol. He was a sweet kid. Very soft spoken and respectful. It was a little awkward talking to him because he obv doesn’t get along with him mom, but I didn’t wanna dog in her even though I really don’t like her. So I kept it positive. He looks and acts just like his dad, which is interesting because my fried died when the kid was 5 and had spent most of the kid’s life either in jail or mental health facilities. When the show started, my kids had made their way to the front rail. That’s when things got weird. So I mentioned my daughter dressed to stick out. Well, she’s 12 but she doesn’t look 12 at all. Most people will assume she’s 16-18. She’s already 5’8”. But the entire Melvins set, the bass player Steve McDonald was eying her. At one point, he made the classic tongue wiggle towards her. I wasn’t on the floor with them, but was on the balcony just above them and saw it. I honestly thought he was doing it towards a cute Hispanic girl near them, but they showed me videos of him and it looks like he’s looking directly at the camera. I’m still not sure how I feel about that. Melvins are one of my favorite bands and Steve also played on the first Tenacious D album, but he has been touring since I was born and is also married to Anna Waronker. My wife got a big kick out of it and saw it as validation of how beautiful my daughter is, but it still kinda grossed me out. It turned out that the spot I was at was right in front of the backstage entrance. I’m sorta jaded about that type of stuff, but I did have the random opportunity to come across Brent Hinds. I knew Brent in the 90s before Mastodon, but only vaguely. I went to his apartment a few times with common friends, but he was a heroin addict back then and I figured he wouldn’t remember me. The last time I spoke with him was at a bar 20 years ago. He remembered me as “Angie’s friend”, though. I didn’t get to talk to him long cuz he got ushered away, but it was cool he remembered me…at all. When Napalm Death came on, I had moved downstairs. My daughter was intent on moshing, but I didn’t want her doing that without me around to protect her. She got in some rounds in a circle pit and that made her night lol. At one point a brawl broke out. I was helping break it up when I noticed the band had stopped the show because of it. When I got the main aggressor restrained and everything calmed down, I looked up and Barney was looking directly at me. So I gave him a thumbs up lol. He asked if anyone was hurt and I gave him another thumbs up and they restarted the show. After the show, I got pics with my kids and my friend’s son together and chatted with him a little longer while we were in line for ND merch. I got both my kids shirts and my daughter hasn’t taken hers off yet. It was a very eventful night for me. 

Games beaten this year 

1.) Xeno’s meat 

Didn’t know that one had co-op but a good time