Ready...Set...GO!

Wow. Lots to tell you about...

Two weeks ago, I moved from Avondale, on the far west side, to Tempe, on the east side. I did some preliminary packing, with the generous help of two of my favorite ladies (BIG thank you to Ro & Julia), but the move generally happened all on one day. U-Haul overbooked trucks for the day, so I ended up with a 26' truck! Wrapped everything in blankets, only stacked about waist high, and transported my crap with no worse lose than one broken Foreman grill and a shattered coffee mug. In Avondale, three Mat/Matts helped me: Coop, Mat Evans, and Turk; in Tempe, Tim and Chara huffed and puffed with us, a combination of smoker's lungs and a wicked hot day just about killed us. My move ended sweetly with a wonderful meal and swim and booze at Chara's.

Segue to recap of past year. Have picked up a few really great friends in the past year. Of course, all of my Anthem homies will stay close to my heart--anyone who survives that place undoubtedly shares a lifelong bond over the bullshit we had to deal with. Accumulated some new bands to follow here in AZ to replace Mammoths and Bullet Teeth and all my other BG songsters. I've been here for a tiny bit over a year and am finally starting to feel like I'm connecting with the people in this place. Arizona, in the long-run, may not be for me; however, I'm glad to have met a new gang of "adults" to hang with. Back to the subject at hand.

My week of moving and losing (and finding) my cat was a blur of menial errands, made ridiculously complicated by the fact that I had no Internet--no guiding star for my grocery store and bank. Somehow, I made it through the week to arrive at the festivities of last weekend: Rock the Bells. Drove out with Adrian, a buddy from Anthem. He's a great roadtripper: suffice it to say that we share vast tastes in music and he's an excellent copilot overall.

The festival itself was beyond incredible. First, you have to ignore the following facts: the brutal heat of the day was inescapable, as the Hyundai Pavilion is NOT, in fact, a pavilion--there was actually not one scrap of shade; beers were $10; vendors ran out of food; lines were too long; and, the smog hanging over San Bernadino valley was not exactly picturesque. To put it in other terms, Rock the Bells was no Coachella.

Second, I expected the majority of the music to be pretty horrible. Hip-hop is never really that great at live shows. It usually devolves into shouting MCs, braggadocios DJs, and some type of unnecessary violence. Well, not Rock the Bells. I was impressed, happy, dancing, excited, and wonderfully surprised by the quality of each and every performance. I saw: Pharoahe Monch, EPMD, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Nas, Public Enemy, The Roots, Cypress Hill, Wu-Tang, and Rage Against the Machine. Also, slightly heard MF Doom and Sage Francis, from a distance on the second stage. Cypress Hill was almost better than when I saw them nearly ten years ago. Wu-Tang was missing a few members, but more than made up for it with their family on stage and a presence larger than San Bernadino itself. And Rage. What can I say? Every second was perfect. To see them together. To see them rock. For RATM to be the last bit of music in my ears at the end of a very long day. There are no words.

When I got back from the show, I noticed some weird bumps on Dante and a strange, somewhat bloody wound on his back. Took him straight to the vet on Monday. In addition to having a locator chip injected into Mr. Outdoor Cat '07, I learned the origin of the odd bumps and wound. Turns out someone at the old apartment had been using Dante for BB gun target practice! The bumps on him were really dried clumps of scabs in his fur and the bloody wound was the one BB hit that just hadn't healed yet. Other than that, the vet said he's a great cat--very healthy and smart and well-mannered. My furry little boy :)

In ASU news... My start has been a bit of a rocky road. There's been no extremely helpful orientations, so I'm let to my own devices. Through phone calls and errands and walking around and emails and bugging people and meetings and paperwork, I think I've figured out where my classrooms are, where to go for computer issues, and how to make my way around my own building, as well as campus. I've got a lot more to learn though. Classes start Monday. I'm somewhat ready; however, as I am taking over for an instructor who already had his courses set, it's a bit difficult to prepare to learn and teach content via someone else's thought process. Come winter break, I'll definitely have to rewrite everything and make it my own.

Sooo... I've got a new 'hood to explore. Leaving Anthem was one of the single best moves I've ever made in my entire life. It wasn't until this week that I actually realized exactly how miserable I've been there. I'm wicked nervous to start teaching, but ready as I'll ever be. I'm partially settled in to the new apartment. Dante's wounds are healing. Football season starts soon. My trip to BG is rapidly approaching. Things are finally falling into place.

I believe I'm beginning to understand what life is supposed to be like: scary and challenging and fast and memorable--heaps of debt from doing what you love and taking chances--full of good people and laughter--where every day truly feels like a new day. And that's fine by me!