Friendsgiving

On Tuesday November 18th I stopped by my Grandma's on the way home from work and had a delicious dinner of rolladen while spending time with family. Kirsten was in town from Germany so it was good catching up with her. I dropped her off at her hotel on my way home and called it an early night, still recovering from a cough.

Wednesday November 19th was a simple day and I watched some Video Game High School. Done with season 2! Now watch this hilarious Tosh.0 skit making fun of Sports Center for ripping off his segment.

Thursday November 20th Rachel and I got an edible arrangement from a mystery person who turned out to be her 2 friends Michele and Ashely. So nice of them to send such a treat! We enjoyed the fruit with our Dinty Moore Stew dinner over rice. Stewtastic reminding us of fresh stew under the blanket of stars in Colorado when we were camping. That night we started the show Mad Men and watched the first 2 episodes about advertising writers in New York in the late 1950s / early 1960s. I watched some Always Sunny right before bed as well. Funny show.

Friday November 21st I started the morning by loading up some Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and prestiged for the 2nd time. I had been sitting at rank 70 and figured I would start over. Why not? The game is like 8 years old anyway and I haven't played since 2011. That night I got home from work and Brian came over around 11 pm to play some N64. We decided to load up Diddy Kong Racing and ended up playing ever single level / trophy race / battle zone possible. After all probably 50 races or so, Brian was doing well, except in hover levels, I still had not come in first, and it was nearing 1:30AM. So Brian said, you will win this last race. We picked the first level and I was in the lead for most of the race. Brian was just sitting near the finish line with rockets loaded up, taking out the computer players to secure my win. Then on the last lap I lost the lead and with the finish line in sight, I sat in second place. Brian, thinking the race was over, began to spray rockets toward us. One of the rockets hit the computer player in first place and I zoomed past him and across the finish line at the last second, FIRST PLACE! We both erupted in cheers and high fived. An incredible ending to a night of sucking.

On Saturday November 22nd, Rachel and I hit up the Jewel and did some grocery shopping. While we were in there we got some free tastes of vodka and given 2 free blue moon glasses. What a start to the shopping trip! Afterwards we prepared a salad, and my Aunt Elaine's peanut butter bars for dessert to bring over to Torie's for Friendsgiving!

Around 3:30 we hopped on the L and headed over to Torie's. We got there around 4pm, enjoyed drinks and appetizers with friends as we waited for the monster 20 lb turkey to finish cooking. Around 5:30pm the turkey was carved and the people began to fill their plates with turkey, mac & cheese, cheesy potatoes, grandmas gravy, salad, asparagus, a few other things I don't remember now, & of my peanut butter bars of course. After dinner, we had some apple pie shots topped with whipped cream as well as some apple crisp. Warm and filling!

After some card games and spoons at Torie's we headed over to Cody's for Chris's birthday around 10pm. We finished off the night by buying Schlitz beers for $2.75 and actually buying them out of it. No Deer Tick on the juke box, but some other decent bands and tunes. We got a cab home and called it a night.

Sunday November 23rd started off with a Jack's pizza for breakfast, followed up by 2 McDoubles delivered by Squid for lunch. Squid hopped over to hang out and help us clean and plan after hanging out with her friends the night before. Around 3 I drove us back to Naperville and I worked for a few hours. When I arrived back home I cooked up some meatballs and we had toasted meatball subs with tasty crinkle fries for dinner whiling watching another 2 episodes of Mad Men.

Monday November 24th was a big day as I finally got us renters insurance, so now if the place burns down we are covered. Solid! I also spent the morning watching an episode of American Horror Story season 4, and afternoon working on and finishing my fourth Luta Lax video. Some beach lax from earlier this summer with Cam, Nolan, Rach, & Beth. Check it out!

Since I had the day off, I was able to get a lot done around the apartment and am feeling relatively organized. Rachel and I cooked up some tacos for dinner. Succulent as they were topped with onions, peppers, lettuce, cheese, & rice. A few more episodes of Mad Men and the night was over.

A big night in America as the police officer from the Michael Brown Ferguson Case was not indicted and the town has continued to riot and burn down the city. Here is a clipping from the trial from Darren Wilson's POV. It reads like a movie script and will be interesting to get to the whole case. It also bothers me how the media portrays Mr. Brown as a poor innocent little kid, this is him an hour before robbing a convenient store. He doesn't look so little, 6'4 300lbs. But at the same time some of the facts from the officers side of the story seem a little too real to be true and his face only showed minor damage. Crazy stuff and a very interesting case that has a sad ending regardless of how much the media twists both sides stories and how much both sides lie.

Thanksgiving next week, family and friend time! Also looking to finish the highly anticipated Snow Mounds!

Enjoy the holiday!

 

Josh

Hashtag Overgrads

On Tuesday November 11th, after work I made Jack Daniels Pulled Pork mini sandwiches for Rachel and I. She made a side of sweet potato fries which were really tasty. Just slice up a sweet potato, throw on a magic seasoning and toss em in the oven for 20 minutes or so. Scrumptious meal. That night we finished House of Cards and I'll I will say is knock knock. Also jammed out to some more Deer Tick Vinyls on the record player. Oh Happy Veteran's Day to all the Vets out there. Thank you for serving our country! Solid day.

Wednesday November 12th introduced me to the dark side of iTunes and their RED logo? This is a change and interesting. I am still searching for the blue logo I have come to know for so long. Once on the new iTunes I found out that Deer Tick had one more album that I did not own. Fuel for the Fire EP. A four song album with 3 new jams I had never heard, so I purchased that up and now have all of Deer Tick's songs that I know of. After work I watched a few episodes of Video Game High School. A pretty cool show my brother told me about. Basically a high school where kids play video games all day for class, seems like a good time!

For dinner on Thursday November 13th, I made some delicious pizza breads that my mom taught me to make, that her dad taught her to make. So thanks Grandpa for the easy and delicious meal! Although I did throw a curveball into the recipe and made them in the oven wrapped in foil instead of the microwave in order to make the bread a little crunchier, although the cheese did not melt with the same properties. Food! More Video Game High School that evening before bed.

Friday November 14th was a long eventful day. Let's skip ahead to 8:30pm when I got off work. First I filled up with gas for $2.89, the cheapest I have ever filled up for in the area. Then I went home, slammed two pieces of deep dish Giordano's pizza. Rachel and I got in the car and we headed down on a 2 hour 20 minute journey down to U of I. We arrived to John's apartment in Champaign around 11:30pm, right when everyone else: Brian, Adam, Dan, Chris, & Alyssa were gonna head out to the bars. Rach and I stayed a few minutes and had a couple more drinks with John in his place, then we met up with the others at Murphy's. At Murphy's we all came to love and remember cheap alcohol. $2.50 beers, $2.50 shots. After an hour or 2 at Murphy's we were graced with the presence of a new 24 hour McDonalds right next door. We couldn't resist the golden arches and headed over for 4 McDoubles & 4 McChickens and a value fry, for John, Rachel & I. We then walked home, ate our fill and headed to bed.

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Saturday November 15th was an early rise for such a late night. We woke sometime around 5 am to the sounds of war outside the window. Oh wait, it was just some metal behind dragged and scrapped by construction workers across the street. After being in and out of sleep with the war sounds in my brain, we all woke up for good around 8 am. We put on our layers and got ready for the big Illinois vs Iowa football game. We headed out to the tailgate area and circled around our 2 cases of beers. We then realized we were kind of hungry and thirsty for actual liquids, so Adam and Dan ran over to the gas station and picked up some gatorades, chips, & granola bars to add to our tailgate. Things were getting wild.

Minutes later we got our shot glasses and began our power hour of fun before the game. Only after a few shots of beer I headed to the porter john. Now I am not sure how many of you have used the facilities in some ice cold weather, but let me tell you about it. I watched my feces fall from human to toilet and while it came out and was falling, it was steaming with quite a force. I now know where the phrase "Steamy Dumps" comes from.

Aside from the steamy dumps, we tailgated for about 100 minutes, thinking about inviting the guy who was sitting in his car alone drinking a beer next to us to our tailgate, and only being spoken to by a woman handing out $1000 bills which we showered Rachel with. Once all finished with our drinks and foods, we headed into the game, with a couple of sock beers and jacket drinks.

When I was using the bathroom initially and talking to Rachel, somehow the rest of our group got separated from us, aka they left us behind, so Rachel and I made our way to the student section and joined the Block I for the initial part of the game. We had some quality endzone seats close to the band, but were separate from our friends. Once the first quarter ended we headed up to the 200 section to join our friends, only to leave that section and find our actual seats after halftime. We stayed until the end of the third quarter when U of I was losing 30 to 7, almost getting a view from every spot in the stadium. It was my first U of I game and if I am correct, it was Rachel's longest time at a U of I football game, not bad for having season tickets during her sophomore year of college. But we had both ran sprints on the football field during her senior year of college, so we were no strangers to the stadium. Check out some shots from the game!

After the fooseball game we stopped at Rachel's old apartment to recollect the start of our relationship and such beautiful memories at 201 E. Armory. Snapped a photo and we then hit up Maize on the way back to John's apartment, a small quesadilla for me as my stomach was pretty full. Around 2pm, once everyone was back at the apartment, we all agreed to take a short 30 minute nap. 3 Hour later we woke up at 5pm. It was like a hobo shelter in there. Everyone wrapped up in their coats, I still had my shoes on, people were laying all over the studio apartment, and there was food and beers spread about. Once we were all up, Chris and Alyssa departed us and the games began. We still had 2 cases left and 6 humans left. Let's just say by the time we left to go out to Blind Pig around 11pm. All 48 drinks were drank. We played a variety of fun games to manage such a feat, but we did so in stylish fashion. We left for Blind Pig around 11, and Rachel called it a night, staying home. So, John, Dan, Brian, Adam, and I walked a few blocks in the snow to reach the Blind Pig. Supposedly one of the best bars in America? Or maybe it was Illinois? Anyway, it was a nice cozy joint, filled with hipsters and a weird guy named Stevie who claimed he didn't own anything he wore and had 76 cents to his name. This San Fransisco man was the only person to chat to us that evening and even let me try his hat on. Which means I probably have lice now. Thanks Stevie. After the Blind Pig papa was in the house as we devoured 2 large pizzas. Thanks papa.

We awoke on Sunday November 16th, packed up our goods, and headed to Kankakee to visit Rachel's grandparents. First we picked up a Jimmy Johns sub and a day old loaf. Tasty. After a nice visit with the grandparents that included a lunch of chicken, creamed corn, mashed potatoes, and ice cream; as well as fun games like Kings in the Corner and Farkle, we headed to Rachel's parents place. We made a pit stop there for a couple of hours then headed to see my cousins Emma and Anna star in the play Peter Pan. Emma was a pirate and Anna was a lost boy. A nice show and they both did great, and so did the people making the popcorn, yum!

The long week ended on Monday November 17th with some American Horror Story Season 4 which I find to be more interesting than scary and a Panda Express dinner with the sister. Although they made me pay an extra $1.25 for the steak I got. Outrage! Although the steak was delicious, a sly way to get extra money from me. Yarrr.

Friendsgiving ahead.

See ya there

Josh

Light up My Sky

Tuesday November 4th, I finished off American Horror Story Season 2 and had some Wings and Rings with young Squid.

Remember Remember the 5th of November. Wednesday I picked up a new lax helmet and watched a few episodes of Archer.

On Thursday November 6 I hit up the library and found a few vinyl records for sale and scooped them up. I also found out that the CDs and DVDs will be moving upstairs, to make space for a teen hangout area, such an inconvenience. Ugh. Best library in America no more. That night, I picked up Rachel from work and we hit up the drive thru at McDonald's, which was absolutely delicious even though they shorted us a McChicken. Scums. $15 an hour for workers my booty.

Friday November 7, I hung up blinds in our place and after work, made some rice and corn for dinner. I then just relaxed and hit the hay early.

Saturday November 8, cleaned around the apartment, hanging up blinds, hanging up pictures, and fixing doors and other adult stuff. I then picked up Beth from the train station around 2pm. After chilling at our place for a little bit, Rachel, Beth, & I headed over to Brian's and picked him up. We then hit up an Oktoberfest party around 5 at Phil's place. Great beer, great brats, and great friends. A little bit of hammerslagen as well. Slamming nails into a tree stump. I was brutal at it.  Around 8:30 we headed out on foot to catch the Yellowcard concert.

Once we arrived to the Concord Theatre, aka Congress Theater, we got our tickets and headed in. To our fortune, we missed the opening band and most of the second act. Yellowcard came on around 9:30 and jammed out for a solid hour. They rocked the place, and I was screaming all the lyrics to every song, even though most of them were wrong, I'm not good with lyrics if you didn't know. They played Light up the sky, Lights & Sounds, Only One, Way away, Ocean Avenue, and some of their other jams, pretty much all of their hits. I'll post the set list below. Somehow the music carried my body toward the front during Ocean Avenue and I was one with the moshers, woah! I made it forward and back through the mosh pit a couple of times without being too damaged. I was also chanting "We Believe You Will Play Believe" for the whole concert. Despite many people around me agreeing with my words, it didn't work.

Set LIST

  1. Convocation
  2. Transmission Home

  3. Crash the Gates

  4. Lights and Sounds

  5. Only One (Piano Intro)

  6. Make Me So

  7. Illuminate

  8. Light Up the Sky

  9. Awakening

  10. The Deepest Well (with Matty Mullins)

  11. One Bedroom

  12. Way Away

  13. Ocean Avenue

  14. California

Since they didn't play their best song besides Light up the Sky, listen to it above! We walked back to the party after the concert ended and then headed back to Naperville. By far the shortest concert I have ever been to, but it was awesome and the energy level was super high. I remember jumping up and down for nearly every song and screaming lyrics at Beth, Brian, and Rach.

Sunday November 9th we woke up and headed out around 9 to catch the Naperville Marathon. Rachel's brother Phil was running it and we were going to cheer him on. Beth came with and we met up with Rachel's family and watched Phil run all 26.2 miles. Nice work Phil! After the Marathon we dropped Beth off at home and then headed to Gordon Biersch for some lunch. I had a tasty Marzen BBQ burger while telling stories of our engagement with Rachel to her family!

After lunch Rachel and I drove over to my brother and sister's in St Charles. We got there and visited with the cute little kids. Sophia was licking walls, crazy girl. Nikolas was pooping, sleeping, and crying like the baby he is. Had some Panda Express for dinner, then we drove back to the city and called it a night after an exhausting weekend.

Monday November 10th.

Beth made some tasty tomato cheese bread for dinner. Nothing else really happened. Check out this inspirational video about running.

Headed back to U of I next week. Get excited.

YaBoy

Josh