One of these things is not like the other…

crazy instrument groupies ::  the warehouse, hartford, ct :: february 7, 2009

Oh. My. 

Where to start?

I drove to CT early on Saturday to get some massive quality time with my little brother before heading into Hartford to watch Instrument play at the Warehouse.  Ever since we met in college, Jeff has definitely been family.  I don’t get to see him much - being grown ups will do that - so it’s all the more special when I get alone time with him.  (Spouses definitely change the dynamic whether you want them to or not…)  There was a deep conversation about stuff I wish he didn’t have to know about / deal with and I helped him set up QuickBooks (again) for his wife’s little business.

When we got to the Warehouse, we were joined by fellow UCMB’ers Brenda, Cathy, Michele, Vizma and Boski. (I still can’t believe Broken Boski still came out to play!  And managed to polka/waltz !)  The night’s activities are still spinning around in my head, but here’s the highlight reel:

I get to go backstage!!!! (Plus, when I was escorted back there, we SKIPPED! w00t for Jonah!)

OMG! I love the haircut!  Too cute.

Take my picture, but I don’t want it to look like I’m posing or anything.

Holy crap, the amount of ass smacking was amazing.  Swollen hands, bruises and tingly tushes all around.

And the licking!  I think everybody got licked at least one.  Some more often than others.  (Damn make-up wearers! BLECH!)

We’re going to Dallas!

Vizma!    Vizma! Vizma!    Vizma!

Apparently, at some point, there was a turf war over me.  I know, I don’t get it either.  (“He says that he brought you, but you’re MINE!  You were my friend first!  I mean, it’s cool that you’re friends with the band and all, but I knew you first.” *pout*)

Um, harmonization between Ben & Derek aroused Jeff.  (And no, Jeff and I do not want to sleep with the same band member. *ahem*)  There was also a joke about a tattoo, but I don’t remember the punch line.

Reminding everyone to please confirm their Vizma…

Ladies, the ball cap/Chuck Taylors/neck tie/button down shirt combo gets you all kinds of attention.  I might actually try looking like a girl for the next show…

Brenda drew the “s” in, but Michele made it thick.

Hooker! Penis! Vizma!

That group that you’re a part of - what’s it called? No, not the band! Heh.  You said “unit.”

Take your sister to the corner and… (Yeah, yeah, short and sweet.)

The Tiger is six days before my birthday.  No, after.  Oh, shit.  Drink!

Um.  Wow.  That was kind of obvious… (but VERY appreciated!)

I’m going to have a girl on each side!  No, I’m going to have all three girls.  See you later!  //  You should sleep over at my place instead of his.

I have a king sized bed.  Plenty of room for the four of us.

PONY!

Dude, it vibrates!

I woke up with the pony and a pack of gum.

Pancakes on fire! / Hot butter burns! / NO! DON’T PUT IT THERE!

How many jokes can you make about a guy and his pussy?

We delivery!

See, everything we say comes back to tv / the internet / facebook…

 

PONY!

I’m alive - just got back from what is, currently,  the best weekend of 2009. (There’s still a lot of the year to go… and there’s a birthday weekend in there.  I’m just sayin’.)

I’ve got to do grown-up schtuff tonight and there’s this little hockey game tomorrow night called the Beanpot Championship Game, but as soon as I get a chance, there will be pictures, stories, and PONY!

Have I said just how much I LOVE being back in New England? 

A sh’load. 

A big whopping sh’load.

Godlike? Would God punch me in the head?

with boski :: mount snow, vt :: feb 1, 2009

I love the things you can find on teh interwebs.  For example, “Boski” is not just blonde boy’s last name.  I’m rather amused by the definitions attached to it. (Even my first name has some rather interesting definitions, but that’s neither here nor there.)

A few weeks ago, I went skiing and got broken.  An invitation was extended to hang out with the same group of people and go skiing again.  Since I’m still not sure what the injury is (MRI tomorrow), I wasn’t going to ski, but that wasn’t stopping me from going up and enjoying a night of, well, being 12 years old again.  The promise of tubing was thrown in and I was sold.  Plus, who could deny the fun of putting a case of soda, a bottle of ketchup, a bag of chips and a PONY! on the conveyor belt?  I love the looks that got me. 

When we got there there was much 12 year olding to be done.  “Heh, you said unit!”  Deciding that all the electrical panels should be locked at all times.  Pillow fights in the public lounge area.  Watching Guido near the pool and looking for his missing tattoos.  Wondering what would happen if you dumped spices into the hot tub, sitting behind the window in lab coats and carrying clipboards.  Trying to figure out the difference between the blue and black label, eating chocolate covered strawberries, rice krispies treats and broccori. Playing mad libs (Please confirm your Vizma!), and Scattergories (Something you keep secret? Sodomy! (Or incest… I can’t remember which letter it was.  The more shocking thing was I wasn’t the only one who had that as an answer)).  Whispered conversations and wondering what the future holds. Sleeping in a strange bed with a strange(r) person.

Waiting for the tubing on Sunday was *so* hard - it was the last thing we did. While I waited for them to get done skiing, I sat in the main lodge and knit.  I was wearing a UConn hockey sweatshirt and some guy had the gall to ask me if I was a hockey mom.  Uh, no!  Ewwww!  The tubing was beyond fun.  We went down in a chain every single time and it was just… beyond fun.  We got in trouble for walking on the magic carpet (heh.  carpet), got taken out several times by the same out of control child and I kept stepping into the ditch. 

Mr. Godlike cooked both breakfast and dinner (mmmm, meat!) on Sunday - and it was good.  I do love me some domesticated man.  He’s going to make some girl very happy once things settle down in his personal life.

I’m not going up for part two this weekend, which kind of bums me out… but I have a BU hockey game tomorrow and I’m journeying to Connecticut on Saturday for the Instrument show in Hartford.  There’s just not enough time to squeeze all that social activity in.  (That alone cracks me up - I spent so much time in Ohio wishing I could have a fun filled social life and now that I have it, I’m too busy bitching that I can’t fit everything I want to do in to my calendar.) 

All I know is I’m nervous about tomorrow night’s game - BU never plays well when they’re ranked # 1 in the country - and I’m all twitchy to get to Connecticut and see my friends.  I’m not going to worry about things that are out of my control.  I’m not going to question people’s behavior.  I’m just going to go and have a good time and try not to get into too much trouble.

Who are you people?

connolly, millan, cocohen :: unh at boston univ, agganis arena, boston ma :: january 23, 2009

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that I’ve increased my readership quite a bit over the past few months.  I’ve been advertising new blog posts on Twitter and I can see the jumps in readership after a tweet. I see hits from places like Facebook.  I see some hits coming from entries that were emailed to others.  I see quite a few google hits - my three favorite searches to date are “suck blow benedetto”, “images of kevin shattenkirk”, and (my most favorite) “instrumenttheband” - and I’m glad I’m rating so high on The Google.  If you google just “good advices”, I’m the number one search result. That blows my mind like I can’t even put into words.

It’s kind of interesting.  I’ve never gone out and actively looked for readers.  I’ve always kept my blog rather close to me but then I learned that there are people who want to know me better… and this is a pretty good way to do that.  I’m very much me here. I’m a little more censored than I am elsewhere, but I’m still pretty “nekkid”.  I’m not the greatest in person - I much prefer to write than talk - because I’m more likely to say something stupid and make an ass out of myself in person. I’m not good under pressure.  It’s an introvert thing.

So anyhoo, I’ve been looking at my stats and I’m wondering who some of ya’ll are. Some are more obvious than others - like you, my friend in Belgium - but others make me scratch my head.  I missed “National Delurking Day/Week”, but I’m curious to know who you are.  I don’t bite (unless it is specifically requested), so please, leave a comment or send me an email.  If you blog, leave your URL.  I’d love to check it out.  I’m always on the lookout for new blogs to read.

My email is:    mat [at] good advices [dot] com

You can leave a comment by clicking here or on the “(0) comments” link down below to the left.

I’m looking forward to knowing who’s stopping by!

EDITED TO ADD:Apparently, some of ya’ll are perverts.  I’m # 6 on The Google right now for “what are some good advices to suck a penis.”  *sigh* 

God bless the weirdos and perverts, they keep teh interwebs entertaining.

Find your passion, or it finds you…

bruins vs. caps :: fleet center td banknorth garden, boston, ma :: january 27, 2008

My mom was one of those moms who documented every second of my first few years.  As I got older, and the alcohol took control of her life, there were fewer pictures in the albums and I was the one in charge of the camera if I wanted to document something.

I was never really a big fan of carting a camera around - it goes against my base instinct to NOT carry some sort of bag when I go out.  But, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten better at bringing the camera with me.  I love my Nikon D40, but my little Olympus Stylus 1010 has become my go-to camera because it is small enough to fit in a pocket. 

I started taking the Stylus with me to hockey games.  From there, the camera went to the R.E.M. concert with us and I’ve got some amazing pictures from that night.  Now, the camera is going with me to Instrument shows.  The boys in the band like my stuff enough to ask me to be their photographer, so I must be doing something right.  *grin*

I still have a lot to learn about how to actually get what I want out of the camera (without resorting to Photoshop), but I do think I’m getting much better.

I took around a hundred pictures at the Bruins game last night and this is my favorite.  It’s not perfect by any means, but I do like the interaction between Thomas and Semin. 

I never thought of myself as a “photographer”, but maybe I should start…