Back(Awesome) & Pissed(For Real).

Yeah, I'm back.

So sorry about the whole "blog abandonment" these past few weeks, but I've not been gone without reason.

About a week ago, my awesome girlfriend - LaResa - invited me to Oil City to spend a few days with her and meet the family. I really enjoyed my time there with them, so I ended up staying three days. I met a lot (and I mean A LOT) of good people who really made me feel welcome. In fact, its probably the best experience I've had with a significant other's family in all my years on this earth. They really are awesome people.

I then came home for a few days to work. Yay. Work. Its boring, however rewarding. We'll not go into it, but it involves (a great deal) of what I'm going to school for - Information Systems.

After a couple days of work I get a phone call from LaResa (she's still in Oil City) and we both agree its probably best if I came back up for a few (more like four) more days.

There's so much to say about both trips to Oil City. So many stories about the family, friends, relatives and kids (Autumn & McKenzie, especially).

Wrapping it up, today LaResa & I babysat her God-Daughter, Autumn. Autumn & I played "Dr. Squirrel" with a buncha dog toys, and Connect-4. God I love kids. :-) LaResa & Autumn decided that it would be funny if they dressed me up with accessories from the game "Pretty Pretty Princess"... I think LaResa enjoyed it more than Autumn... Ugh...

There you have it.

I just got back from work. This is seriously the first time I've spent at my PC all week. Sorry for the delay, I just have lots going on anymore.

And man, life is good. :-)

I'm in a rather "blargh" mood though. Lots of crap running through my mind. I've not just been spending time with LaResa lately, though. I've been doing a lot of learning via observation. Sometimes its just good to kick back and soak it all in - and I've been trying to do this as of late. I'm, very slowly, learning a lot about the quality of people.

Through the passed few months, I thought I made some key friendships - you know, friendships that have the capacity to endure and last. However, it seems I may have been mistaken. Some people, can appear totally and entirely on the straight & narrow. Some people appear dull, morose and outright bad. Then there's the type of people who are absolutely fake. Those, are the worst type.

I'm venting. Kill it here if you don't wanna read a vent-blog. Otherwise, here's what I have to say about what I mentioned above. I'm not the best when it comes to judging character. The reason behind this is because I purposely try NOT to judge character. I just want to let everyone be themselves and respect each person for who they are - because, after all, they are unique beings who are both fascinating and - at the very roots of it all - true to themselves. Fake people seems to have difficulty with being true to themselves, and therefore being true to others.

I've definately been misled by a close friend of mine, and I regret having not seen it sooner. I guess its my own fault for putting so much faith into somebody before actually knowing them. Shame one me for trying to see the good in people. Everyone deserves respect.

Characters like this; I do not need in my life. I consider them a "cancer"- a disease that breeds question in the things I should never come to doubt. They are a plague that courses through our social body and breaks it down for nothing more than unjust amusement. I don't tolerate this crap, and I certainly won't be part of it.

Life is far too short to keep looking over my shoulder to cover my back - since I should be always looking straight ahead. NEVER BACKWARDS.

So here's what I've come to know; I know my true friends. God knows I love them more than anything I can imagine. I know my family. God knows I couldn't and wouldn't be here without them. God knows that friendships forged are friendships loved. To break me by denying my friendships and love, is to hurt me. And damnit, I hurt.

Happy? You bet I am. I love life, my family, my friends and LaResa.
Upset? You bet I am. I feel awfully betrayed.

In the end, all I really was looking for is a person who can respect another person unconditionally. Somebody with morals, values and virtues. Somebody I can relate to. Somebody like me. I guess you weren't even close - though you really had me fooled.

On sleepless roads the sleepless go,

-Crock

Boo, Williams!

I'm fairly confident that if somebody named "Williams" read the title of my blog that they'd be scared. Sorry, Williams, you scare too easily. (I'm sure I scared Rollo.)

It's been a while since I did some housekeeping around here so lets just be off with it.

Hockey season ended with a fantastic game over the weekend. It was a playoff game vs. a team named Chaos (they usually pummel us, but lately we've been stickin' it to them hard!). Anyway, we start the game off leading 2-0. As the game progresses we end up being down 7-5 late in the third period. I try my best at my usual heroics and end up making it 7-6 by scoring a goal with little over a minute remaining in the game. We pull the goalie and we put the pressure on HARD in their end. I get an opportunity for a quick-hitting shot that requires a really nifty move. I make the move, but I totally WHIFFED on the shot, sending the puck into the corner. We never got another shot on net. Game: Chaos. They're good sports, I hope they do well.

Finals will be over tomorrow. I'll be taking a final for a class I haven't gone to since before Thanksgiving break. Call me lazy, but I think that class was a huge waste of my time. Can't wait til its over for good.

My new job is friggin awesome. Last night I ended up showing the girl who was training me how to fix a PC that was crashing. I had it fixed in a matter of three minutes, no lie. I'm very happy with the atmosphere and quality of people with whom I work. Everyone's so helpful and KNOWLEDGABLE. They know their shit. For once in my life, I'm not working with a complete group of novices. You have no clue how much I appreciate that. I can have conversation about things I know about and expect good conversation. Excellent.

We're forging ahead with DVD plans for SUYM Season I, however we're pressed for time anymore because we're working so much. As you're probably already aware, we have been producing lots of radio shows - that keeps us sharp during our downtime and is a lot of fun. Also, its easier to get guests onto the radio show than into a film, and we love involving friends.

Welp, as you can see this update had absolutely NOTHING to do with Boo or Williams. I don't even know why I chose that title. I really haven't had much to say lately, nor do I at the moment.

Ice - Out,

-Crock

A couple of ducks.

A couple of days ago, I was driving on a back road on my way to class when a couple of ducks decided to pick a fight in the middle of the road. This is how I believe it all started:

It seems to me that duck #1 (lets call him "DMX") got into a tiff with duck #2 (we can call this one "Abraham" since he looked so liberating) over bread-crumbs. DMX probably accused Abraham of taking a few more bread crumbs than he should have (and judging by duck-mass-weight-ratios, Abraham sure looked guilty). Some hateful and hurtful things were said. DMX called Abraham a "crumb-snatching load of quack". Abraham, never much for wit, proceeded to insult DMX's mother; which led to physical confrontation. DMX threw down. He chased after Abraham, following him down a hill and onto the road in which I was traveling. Upon reaching the middle of the road, DMX tackled Abraham and began to peck him. I broke it up by driving around them, startling them into peace. While looking into my rear-view mirror as I passed them, I noticed that they agreed to both take measures to control their anger and share in the bread crumbs.

It's nice to see that ducks can work things out like civilized human beings, even when one was just as wrong as the other.

Today, I had a presentation that went well. I also have to be in Pittsburgh at 1:30pm to complete some paperwork for the job I accepted. (A few blogs ago I told you about a job interview, well I got the position. Yay for me.) Afterwards, I'm gonna hang out in Pittsburgh for a while then come back here to work out. Hit me up if you're not busy later tonight, I'd like to hang out or go to a movie or rent a movie or whatever.

Later on,

-Crock

Long Recap.

HOLY CRAP. Okay, I'm not even sure where to begin. Stick with me here.

Wednesday night: The 2nd biggest drinking night of the year. The entire cast/crew from SUYM goes to OUR bar (DiMarco's) and Rollo & I get absolutely tore down. There were SOOOOOOO many people there, and SOOOOOO many good times to have been had. To boil it all down, Rollo and I hung out with Grant, Katie, Pat and Tiffany for a bit. Rollo started the night off with a friggin' BANG. He killed 3 shots of jack while holding down GOOD conversation, then killed his beer right after that. Not long after he killed the beer, he got all wound up and asked what he just did... yada yadda yadda, you get the point. I kept drinking til I ran out of money. Thats when I thought my night was over... Little did I know that it was just beginning. After my friends got me good and destroyed, we decided to hop to a few bars. This is where things get a bit fuzzy.

I remember going to the Highland House and seeing even more people I know. I even got to see Alyssa Trynock! That was nice. I don't remember what I drank there but I do remember ending up at another bar that WASN'T the Highland House.

There was a live band at this bar, and they were GOOD. They played a bunch of covers from different bands from Fuel to Marilyn Manson. The real surprise was they played a BUNCH of Weezer songs. When "Say it ain't so" came on, Rollo and I got to the head of the crowd and then he began moshing! What the hell!?!?! Who mosh's to a Weezer song!?!? Either way, some girl was taping the entire thing and she got a real kick out of it. I loved that they actually played MY song. Good times.

I remember people buying me all kinda drinks here, but all I can remember drinking was a Jager-bomb. Holy God, I needed a night like this. There were so many friends of mine at these bars and I'm so glad I got to hang out with them and meet the people I met.

After the bar, I ended up driving back to Megan's place for a sleepover. Don't ask how I did it, but I managed to drive thru Taco Bell for Rollo and get us back to Meg's in one piece. Friggin YEAH.

I stayed the night there with Meg & Beth. Beth kept me up til 5am, but it was fun so I didn't mind. Meg dozed off somewhere in there, and Rollo left for Meg's bed. Meg, Beth and I slept on the floor. Good night!

(It's Thanksgiving now) When I woke up, it was 9:00am and I was fresh off about three hours of sleep. So, I bid my lady friends a good morning and go home. I got 20 more minutes of sleep, then it was time to shove off to Ashley's house to have Thanksgiving lunch with her family. I really wanted to make a good impression on her parents because for some reason her mom hates me... I'm not entirely sure as to why, I'm not dating her or even trying to for that matter. If she should hate anybody, hate Dave damnit. LOL (IM JUST KIDDING ASHLEY, call off your dogs). Anyway, after a REALLY ackward lunch with her family, we watched the first half of the Lions / Falcons game. Crumpler really was tearing up for Rollo. (fantasy football) At halftime we went to my house for dessert.

Mom really came through with the dessert. Each of us ate til we were packed full. We then watched "Wake up, Ron Burgundy" the extra movie from Anchorman. When Ashley left, Rollo and I watched the Denver / Dallas game. It stunk so I played some acoustic guitar for a while with him. I'm not as good as I'd like to be with the guitar, but I'm making lots of strides. :-)

Rollo left around 8:00pm. LaResa told me that "Finding Nemo" was coming on at 8:30, so I watched that and got a shower.

You'd think my day would end, already?
...
......
NOPE!
......
...

After watching the movie, Megan tells me to come over. So, without haste, I travel to her apartment. Once I get there, she, Beth and I all begin pranking people. I think I told some dude that I was pregnant. I can't remember. Meg kept tryin to prank my ex's but being the prolific dude I am, I wouldn't let that happen! (propz to me). Then Rollo walked in. So now it's me, Rollo, Meg and Beth.

Rollo & Beth head for the living room and Megan and I stay in Meg's room. She tells me she's got a song to sing to me. I love it when she sings to me. Turns out, she's singing the Dashboard Song I was rockin' out to on the way over here! So we both sing the song together. :-) "Your hair is everywhere..."

When we go out to see Rollo & Beth, a FOOD FIGHT breaks out. Completely out of the blue! Megan smashes an egg on her floor and then hits me with the shell. She hits Rollo with the Parmasean cheese and then throws stuffing in my EYE. It was the coolest foodfight ever. Rollo also got hit with a bisquit.

Not long after this, we sat down to watch Nicktoons. I'm extremely happy. Rollo ends up leaving. Meg, Beth and I pile into my truck and we go to K-Mart. At this point, its 1:15am on the day after thanksgiving. So Meg proceeds to make a scene in K-Mart while Beth & I try to make it look like this is our normal friend. We get jello & cups and head for sheetz. Beth & Meg grab some MTO's and doughnuts and we head back to her place. We rock out to "My Humps" and "The Remix to Ignition" as well as a few country songs in there on the way back.

When we finally get back to Meg's, Megan decides to heat up her sandwich. It's got a foil wrapper. I, unfortunately, am sleeping on the chair and Beth is on the couch. Beth says "Meg you can't put that in there." but at this point the sandwich has been in there for about 25 seconds. Meg opens the microwave and the paper is on FIRE. She tries to blow it out, but then turns around and yells "CROCK!" then immediately fills up a cup with water. Before she has a chance to throw the water on it, I say in a calm voice "Fire's out, sweetheart." and a laugh is shared by all. It's time for me to leave, so I head home.

What a couple of days I've had. :-)

Lovin' every minute, lovin' every moment.

-Crock

Good Times.

Helloooooo. What an important weekend I've had! It's important because its like the 3rd in a series of successful and fun-filled weekends. I spent most of the weekend hangin' at Megan's playing the "Battle of the Sexes" board game. My team (the dudes) usually lose, but we're better at this game than you'd think. The girls always end up getting the "FEMALE" card that says "You're friggin Jesus in disguise - advance to the end of the game and declare victory." I tell you, when it comes to this game, we cannot get a break.

Regarding my few hockey games; I played spectacularly. In the first game I notched 2 assists and followed up with a hat-trick (3 goals) in the second game. I was extremely happy that Ashley, Dave, Erica and Karen got to see this. I can thank them for this game. I wouldn't have been as intense if the stands were empty. Thanks, guys.

After my hockey game, I went to Meg's place again and she sang me a great deal of songs, which was very sweet of her. Although, she gave me a pretty hard time this weekend, she's pretty essential when it comes to having a good time. GOOD TIMES! I cannot wait for her 80's party next weekend - you can bet I'll be in costume.

In the SUYM realm, we cranked out another radio show. Download it here. The coolest part is that we're really starting to get a better grasp on the flow of material in the "radio" format. The most fun part? Well that's on the out-takes. Rollo & I do some warm-up exercises to get the creative juices flowin'. One of those exercises was so much fun that we put it into our 5th broadcast as a commercial. It's our *ROCK OUT* to "Black Betty". Lots of fun putting these things together.

Lastly, Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching. I've got more plans this year than I think I've ever had in regards to dinners I need to attend. I'm really happy about that too, it shows that I've got lots of people that care about me in my life - and that's what it all comes down to - people who care.

November's almost over, and it hasn't been so bad at all. I'm hoping that everything just keeps getting better and better. It's to the point where its difficult to sleep because I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. :-)

Later on,

-Crock

Goofin' Around.

I've got some different news for those of you who read this and would like to come to my hockey game this weekend. It's more like hockey games. Here's the schedule for saturday night:

• 8:00pm game 1
• 10:00pm game 2

These games are against the same team (I believe) since they were a no-show a few weeks ago. This means there will be an hour's worth of downtime in between the first and last game. So, if you had planned on coming, I'll get to chill with you for about an hour inbetween games. That'll be fun!

Now to to goofyness. I'm sure you're all aware that SUYM spent a lot of time in the studio lately. Whenever we go into the studio to do any kind of serious work, we always pad what we like to call our "Out-takes Reel". It's comprised of mainly deleted scenes and unreleased recordings. I'd like to share a sample MP3 with you right now. It's our parody of the old folk song; "Down by the Riverside".

Download "Down By The Riverside" by SUYM.

That's all I have for you at the moment.

-Crock

Headlights & Skylines.

Driving home from Uniontown after totally trashing Ted at NFL2k5, I notice two things: the road ahead of me and the sky above me.

I'm a man of metaphor, and here we go:

I loved this scene for two reasons: First, the road ahead symbolizes the path ahead of me. It's full of twists and turns, ups and downs, peaks and valleys. Whichever way I look at it, though, it's still my path. Whether I like it or not, thats the way it's gonna be. Nobody's going to change it. I certainly can't. I like what I see.

The second reason I liked it is because of the skyline. It reminds me that, while I'm not at rock-bottom, I've still got only one direction to go - and thats UP. The skyline was crowded with trees, which I associated with "bumps along the way" in my attempts achieve a higher level.

Enough with this.

I've dedicated the greater portion of this week towards convincing Erica to come to my hockey game this weekend. She went to my last one, which was really awesome of her. If you haven't realized it by now, I really love it when people come to my games. I don't know why it changes my game, but it does. :-) If I may borrow a line from Jet and direct it at her...

"Oh, please come around again..."

I've also decided to take a week away from frisbee to regain some focus in my life. To all which this decision may affect; I'm sorry. I try to think that I'm not greedy or selfish, but I need some time to myself - some time away. To the few I've talked to about this, you're more than understanding; and God knows I need that right now.

During my week away my plan is to go back to my old training style. This involves (quite heavily) a lot of running. Thus far, I've been very successful in this area. I'm really happy to get back into my old training routine. It's not just a physical kind of training because I get to clear my mind in the process. I run at great lengths, sometimes two or three times a day, not only for the physical benefit - but also to think. I do my best thinking in two places: while running and while in the shower. I can't stay in the shower all day long, so I might as well run.

In addition to my training, I had wanted to dedicate this week to production at SUYM. So far, so good. Rollo and I churned out a new radio show, following the old "Crock & Murph in the Mornin" format. Download it here and have a listen. The DVD is also a topic of focus in the realm of SUYM this week. We're getting screens finalized this week and hopefully, this weekend, we'll have another build released. At this point its more housekeeping work than raw content implementation. We're trying to get an interface that's easily useable, readable and fun. We're almost there. The last of the content will be wrapped up shortly in the form of "commentaries" for several of our films. I, personally, can't wait to get this done and show you all. The quality of the films and the out-takes are hilarious. :-)

If you're reading this, hit me up. I'd like to hang out with you. Bring a DVD over to my place - we'll watch it. Call me - we'll talk. Email me (saintcrock@gmail.com) - I'll write back. Wanna go out to eat? - I'll make it happen (and I'll buy). IM me - I'm here. Let's go for a drive - I want to know what Headlights & Skylines mean to you...

-Crock

180.

Friends really rise to the occasion.

On Saturday, I spent the day preparing for my hockey game. I knew it was going to take pretty much everything I had to get there and play a really hard, fundamental game. I truly didn't realize how easy it would be. Given the recent events, I was hunkered down and prepared for the worst. Boy, I coudln't have been more wrong.

It all started when I went to pick up Ryan for my hockey game. When I got to his place, he informed me that four more people were tagging along. Holy crap. For those of you who know me well, you realize that this turn of events really changed my day. I absolutely love it when people come to my hockey games. It changes my game completely to know I'm actually playing for people that came to see ME. So, we pull back into my driveway and Ashley & Erica are right behind us. You can imagine the goofy smile I have on my face at this point. So now there's six of us all ready to go to my hockey game. Rollo pulls in and that makes seven. Add my mother and that's eight. Eight people all coming to see me. I was on cloud nine. :-)

Top that off with numerous well-wishes from LaResa, Jackie and Heather - this just about made my weekend. Seriously. Hey everybody, I'm still smiling!!! You are all amazing!!!

Partied on Saturday. Partied HARD. Partied with GOOD FRIENDS. This weekend totally did a 180.

I can go on and on about it forever, but I'm going to do a name-drop here and thank everyone who made this weekened absolutely unforgettable. Here we go:

Anne, Ashley, Ted, Rollo, Erica, LaResa, Jackie, Ryan, Kevin-the-Kevin, Humps, Danielle, Heather Nedzesky, Katie, Megan, Jed, Jesus, Heather, Ken, My entire hockey team, and last but not least - Mama. :-)

Everyone. Thank you.

...What a great weekend...

-Crock

Lack of Armor.

I swear, this morning was the hardest morning I've had in a long, LONG time.

It all started when I began recalling events from this past week. The week was overall good, but when you feel rejected - that's never a positive feeling.

I suppose I was in denial over it all (in case you haven't heard; in my infinately boneheaded ways, I managed to screw up yet another relationship). I try to see the good in everything that happens. I don't hold grudges. I just insist that "life is life" and let it be what it is. What the hell is it though?

Ted (who is wise beyond his years) once told me that life is a series of events that are nothing more than reaching for something you want, but never grasping it - or the opposite thereof.

In other words:
Dreams either come true, or they dont. Period.

It turns out that I was hurt worse than I had originally thought. In that regard, I just kinda fell to pieces this morning in the parking lot across the tracks in Cal. It wasn't one of my better moments. I'm not a crier by ANY means. I cried.

Since around 1996, I've not had a truly GOOD November. It's always been riddled with girl troubles, deaths in the family (or families close to mine) and just overall disappointment. It's only a few weeks into this month, but I'm not losing sight of what I'm trying to find. I'm really going to try to salvage a good November from this, somehow.

I'm not nearly as strong as I used to be. I can remember a time when I'd have shrugged this off like a mosquito bite. I suppose I'm not that same guy anymore. I suppose I'm a bit too sensitive. The fact remains that I like who I am, and I'm certain that there's another out there that feels the same way. I'm disciplined and patient. I'll heal.

If you're reading this, you're obviously a tremendous friend. To everyone that supports me:

Thank You.

-Crock

Forecast.

I completely figured out what was bothering me.

I have nothing to say about it.

Here's the weather:
Today


Mostly Sunny - High of 51F - Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight


Mostly Clear - Low of 34F - Winds light and variable.


-Crock

Crock Dynamics.

There are so many changes going on anymore. I guess a good term for it would be "Crock Dynamics".

Crock Dynamics - (noun) 1.The ever-changing state of being in which Crock lives.

Yeah, that seems to work well. What I mean by this is that most every situation I find myself in lately seems to be something other than what it looks like - at least on the outside. There are situations that I was ABSOLUTELY sure of three months ago, that I'm now questioning. The few questions that I had, are slowly being answered. If I may borrow a line from the movie "Kicking & Screaming" - it seems like my life has, once again, become a whirling dervish.

Figuratively speaking, a week ago I'd have never guessed I'd be where I'm at today. There are so many new people in my life - and I can't thank them enough for sticking with me. The week is starting to plateau.

Overall, I'm noticing that patterns that I used to fall into aren't so much patterns at all anymore. I don't seek out the same people I needed advice from in the past. I'm a lot more open with my emotions. I lay a lot more on the line in terms of heart and soul. I try to give 100% to everyone and everything I do. I don't know if this sends the wrong message to the people I spend time with, but I feel everyone deserves a certain amount of respect. It seems I'm turning this blog into a culmination of "how I'm feeling today" lines. I feel fine.

At the same time, though, something's definately wrong. I seriously haven't a CLUE what is "stickin' in my craw", but something feels oddly out of place. It feels like something is just teetering on the edge, waiting for me to push it off and get to the bottom of it. I just can't say what it is. I'm sure I'll figure it out sooner or later. Wherever I go, there I am.

I don't even feel like mentioning the recent progress in the realm of SUYM. I'll do that in another blog. I just feel like I'm searching for something that isn't there.

-Crock

Monumental.

Hey all. November might not be as bad as I had originally feared. :-)

Last night, the entire SUYM crew packed into the studio and hammed out some AWESOME work. Big ups to Anne, Ashley, Ted & Rollo for all giving their time to get this DVD done! We even had time left in the night to begin work on another video! HOLY CRAP FINALLY A VIDEO FOR SEASON II!!!!! And I can't stop smiling! :-) !!!!!

Frisbee. We're on the virge of something great. I can feel it. Everyone seems so much more focused on improving. I tell you, everyone has taken great responsibility in regards to keeping this team on a path towards constant improvement. I can't thank them enough for being my friends. I need them more than they'll ever realize.

I've got some ideas as to what we're going to work on at practice this week as well. If you're reading this, I've probably already told you my ideas - so I'll spare you the repeats.

I've also got a lesser-known plan in regards to frisbee. Hopefully my recruiting goes well in the next few days, so we can get a few new faces on the feild. The plan involves a LOT of angst on my part, so I'm gonna buckle down and do whats best for this team.

I'm having a monumentally great day/week, and I hope it doesn't end. If I keep walkin' around this house with this stupid smile on my face, my parents are gonna think I'm on drugs or something.

I'll leave you with one last bit of advice.

"Don't ever give up. No matter how hard it is, don't ever give up. I need you more than you'll ever know."
-Joshua J. Crockett

Saturday Recap

Hey.

Saturday, for the most part, went well. The Ultimate Frisbee tournament at IUP was fantastic. Everyone played with an intensity so fierce, at some points, I was just awestruck. I'm so proud of this team. Incredible...

Hockey sucked. I scored a goal and knocked 2 dudes around, but the most important thing was that absolutely NOBODY came to my game. I'm so incredibly bummed out about that, it almost makes me want to stop blogging and go to bed... but I won't... Mama was supposed to go, but I guess she got sidetracked or was doing some work. Alissa couldn't make it either. I feel like crap. It really changes things, at least for my mindset, when I look in the stands and see somebody just sitting there for me. This sucks so bad... We ended up losing the game 8-5.

...November...

Why can't somebody save October?...

-Crock

Tongue Tied.

The whole reason I haven't updated this for a while is the fact that I can't seem to put my thoughts together enough lately to form a complete idea. Did you catch that? Good. I'm tongue tied. ;-)

I've got a ton of stuff to mention here, but who knows if I'll ever figure out a way to piece my thoughts together. All I know is that I'm happy. Very happy.

NEXT ISSUE!

Congrats to Ashley & Dan for callin' it "official" earlier in the week. You guys are definately good for each other and I hope you both have unforgettable memories together. (Okay, that got cheesy, but who's counting?)

NEXT ISSUE!!

Big Ultimate tournament coming up this weekend at IUP. I'm especially looking forward to it because it'll be my first experience in tournament play. I think the team as a whole is showing significant progress with each practice, and thats definately encouraging.

NEXT ISSUE!!!

Hockey game on Saturday after the tournament. I'm gonna be BEAT after the tourney. Alissa & Mama are comin' to the game. That makes me smile. :-)

NEXT ISSUE!!!!

Rollo & I have decided on a new format for the revamped radio show. We did a lot of freestyle broadcast scenarios in the studio a few nights back and determined that the style that flowed the best was "Murphy & The Aristocrat". This time, I'll be playing the role of Murphy (formerly, Murphy had been created & sustained by Rollo) and Rollo will continue his role as Mr. Aristocrat. I'm looking forward to good times!

It seems I've run out of issues to speak of, so I'm gonna call it quits for this episode of "Sex Panther".

Hello, again.

Hi. Now where did I leave off?...can't remember...oh well...

Today Alissa & I went to Best Buy after class to get some speakers. Man they sound good.

Tonight I'll be headed to Fright Nights at Kennywood. (Please don't be cold.)

Tomorrow I have a hockey game. Mom's the only one goin, as usual. You've no idea how bad that bums me out... Also, tomorrow we have an Ultimate Frisbee tournament at St. Vincent college. I'm not able to attend, but I want to wish everyone in the tourney the best of luck.

Go Cal U Ultimate Frisbee Team!
Best of luck in tomorrow's tourney!

Now, back to the blog. It's because of hockey I'll not be able to attend the tournament. While I really don't have a problem with that, I really hate missing out on things like this. Ah well. I guess there will be other tourneys in the future.

My birthday went rather well. It started off a bit slow, but Alissa, Ashley, Dan & I ended up chilling at Alissa's towards the end of the night. Thank God for these guys. They made my birthday very special. (Thank's, Ash for the shirts that don't fit!)

Which brings me back down to reality. I'm crushin' pretty hard on the girl from a few blogs back (you remember the one, the one I thought didn't know I existed.) Yep, head-over-heels CRUSHED. Man, I haven't felt like this in a long time. It's sorta like tunnel-vision. When I'm around her - all I see is her. Which is awesome. I've got so much to say about this, I could go on for hours, but I'd rather just tell Ashley since she listens so well.

Cya,

-Crock

Learning.

Wow. It's amazing how much you can learn about yourself by just talking to somebody.

I spent the better part of Friday hangin' out with Ashley and just talking to her. I tell you what, I may not know much, but what I do know is that she's got a level head on her shoulders and truly cares about her friends. Its awfully cool to have somebody like that in my life. She's really great with advice too. Her & I tend to share similar problems, so working them out is becoming more of a team-effort lately. Thanks, Ash. You're terriffic. :-)

After all the talking was done, she, I and the rest of the Shutupyourmouth crew packed (seriously, like sardines) into my truck and went to Rich's Fright Farm. While I'm not one to get scared easily as it stands, this was quite possibly the worst $15 I've spent since I bought Madonna's "Ray of Light" album. All that happened was the typical chainsaw-kook followed by a buncha dudes walkin around mumbling something about brains. I tell you, if I see another haunted attraction like this anytime soon, I'm just gonna throw in the towel when it comes to going to these things. I really wanted to go because my friends were all gonna be there - and they MORE than made up for the haunted crap house. I guess I'm just growing bored with the whole traditional mumbo-jumbo that halloween is offering anymore. Station-Scare from last year was awesome. This was crap-junk-terrible. At least next week I'll be able to ride some rollercoasters if the haunted stuff turns out to be a disappointment.

It's pretty late right now. It's well after midnight. I've got a hockey game tomorrow evening. So, I'll be turning in soon. The weekend's going to pass quickly, thats for certain. That's neither good nor bad. I'm just gonna take whatever I'm given, one day at a time.

More tomorrow...maybe...

-Crock

300 Miles.

Put 300 miles on the bike yesterday with Alissa. We went on my Route 7 ride through West Virginia. I had a good time. Hope she had a good time as well. Got some good pics too. Check em out.

Got an interview at Cannonsburg Hospital regarding running some of their information systems. It's on Tuesday at 3:00pm. For the love of GOD please don't let me forget about it.

I have nothing else to say.

-Crock

Phone's back!

Hey, it turns out that my phone bill WASN'T late after all. The bill I was looking at yesterday was the next due one. So, in reality, verizon had no reason to shut off my phone. I'm not sure what went on, but after a few phone calls my phone was back up and running at around 10pm last night.

So, you can call me again! YEAH!

Today's Wednesday, so I'll be out on the bike for the better portion of the day.

Later,

-Crock

Hey, Today.

My stars! Has today been awful thus far. My mom forgot to send in my cell phone payment (which is my own fault, I should be more responsible and handle my bills...) and my phone was shut off. After about an hour on the phone with verizon, they informed me that I'll not be getting any service until I pay up. Serves me right. There's a lesson in responsibility.

I guess its not all that bad. I mean it IS only a cell phone. Things could be worse.

Wednesday. Now that's gonna be a good day. Alissa & I are going to take another bike ride and I'm super excited. I'm just gonna steamroll through today and try to forget about my cell phone woes and try to get through to Wednesday as fast as I possibly can.

I also found my digital camera. Thank God. I thought I lost it at the last job we did. (like maybe I buried it in a french drain or something.) That's good because I'm gonna take it with us on the bike ride tomorrow and try to get some extra-awesome pics.

Yesterday I hung out with Alissa and her roomie, Kimmie, pretty much all day. We went to King's where Alissa got me to use her phone to tape a singing waitress (who made a song up about the Frownie) and while I successfully recorded it, my bone-headedness shone through like sunrise on the ocean. I ended up closing the phone before I saved the video clip. Scratch another notch in the "bone-head moves" column. This was some seriously good footage too... Ugh...

I'm probably gonna be bone-head bored tonight, so if anybody wants to do anything - message me. The 'ol phone's nothing more than a paperweight.

50/50

I had a good weekend. Alissa & I went on a 100+ mile bike ride on the SV. That was honestly the most fun I've ever had on that bike.

This is us.

Today I twisted my ankle in the crater at Ultimate Frisbee practice. That's not too unusual for me though. It seems like I'm the only one who gets eaten by that thing. Usually I can just walk that kinda stuff off, but I really came down hard on the 'ol foot and had to leave early. Bummer.

I also (about 15 minutes ago) tried to do some "a capella" work. You know, singing without the music. My attempts at Weezer's "Butterfly" weren't very good, and it is with a heavy heart that I retire my singing voice - at least when it comes to a capella work.

What really sucks is that if it were half-decent I would have uploaded it for you all to hear. I had planned on the song to be the blog entry, instead of this text. The reason for this is two-fold. I feel that the song is sort of applicable to some of the events taking place in the 'ol Crock life, and that the song, in itself, is amazing.

I've found I'm not very good at expressing myself, so I figured a song would ease me into what I'm ultimately trying to get at. So much for that! I'm gonna hafta take a different venue. I'll keep my eyes and mind open until I can figure something out.

-Crock

More Refined.

Well, the week went smoothly. I juggled classes successfully and had a pretty good week at frisbee. I'm not really that exhausted...yet... Hockey on Saturday will probably whip me around a bit, so I'll be good and dead for frisbee on Sunday afternoon. I think I'm finally finding a balance in work, class, frisbee, running and hockey. It's a delicate one, but at least its there.

Really, when I get right down to it, I spent most of me week in the ICF here at Cal U. There were many programs I had to code for my Database HTML class, and if you know me, coding does not come easy. If you're ever looking for me around campus, you can find me in the ICF. I'm actually writing this in the ICF - and its almost 9pm!

At least the week went well, though. I'm really thankful for all the people in my life. You're the ones I have to thank for such a terriffic week. So to all of you who've been there for me and involved with me in one way or another --- THANKS! You all make my life so much more interesting and complete. I really can't report on much more, other than the girl I'm interested in knows I exist. And that's awesome. :-)

Cya,

-Crock

Answers.

Wow, I really should start updating this a bit more often - but as the SUYM DVD becomes a reality, my free time slips further and further into nothingness. I've also got a pretty hectic schedule during the week consisting of (but not limited to) school, intermural flag football, frisbee, running and work. Top that off with Saturday hockey games (which you should probably come to) and its almost overwhelming. It's such a load that towards the end of the week I have to literally DRAG myself to class and try to not fall asleep there. Ah, the demanding life I lead...

I've recently joined the Ultimate Frisbee club (I think its actually a club-in-progress, but who's counting?) at college and I've met some absolutely awesome people. This is what consumes most of my Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. I'm sure glad Josh asked Ashley & I to play. The whole group is a class-act. You really couldn't ask for better people.

Wrapping it all up, I sure am glad for what I've got. From school to friends, everything is perfect. Well, almost perfect. See, I've been really taken by a girl down here at Cal. While I'm no stranger to actually trying to talk to somebody like this (you're probably all well-aware by now that I like it when the girl shows interest first) but my demanding lifestyle discussed above really limits the amount of free time I get during the week. That, combined with the fact that while I'm pretty infatuated with her - it seems that she's not interested WHATSOEVER. Seems pretty ironic - seeing as how I'm actually interested in somebody for a change and its just not happening with her. I'll keep trying though and let you all know whats happening in the wacky world of Crock.

Wish me luck,
-Crock

My newfound hobby.

Well school started again and MAN did I miss a lot of people. I'm sure glad I've got to see a lot of old faces as well as make some new friends. Good times.

Lately, I've been doing a lot of dancing and scat-ing. Particularly outside, in parking lots and near chinese resutraunts. Its a good hobby and I enjoy it a whole bunch. Typically I am joined by Rollo, Ted and Ashley (a new face). (This is my new hobby BTW).

More to come later.

Crock gone!

Summer's Over

The start of the fall semester usually signifies the end of my summer. All in all, its been a good one. From hockey, to good friends, to SUYM - I've had a great time. Sure the chips go down sometimes (and in my case, stay that way for a while) but I guess once you hit the bottom, ya gotta get right back up.

I saw some people lately I haven't seen in a while. Heading off the list is none other than Karen Hall. Karen graduated with my sister and while she was in high school absolutely stunned me with her ability to sing. She held the lead roles in the high school plays from as far back as I can remember. Well, I ended up bumping into her at Wal*Mart the other day and I've got to tell you she's absolutely gorgeous. She caught me completely off guard that all I could muster was a "Hey Karen." and continued to trot on by towards the milk. It was nice seeing her again, even though we never really said much to each other during our time at Cal High. Everyone is growing up so quickly...

I also got to go to a cool party held by Molly & Mike. They had a lot of people I didn't see in a LONG time. Drew, Elliot, Josh, Tim, Marcus, Ricki, Dave, Jay.... soooo many names. It was awesome to hang out with them all again one last time before school starts. Thats what I'm talkin about.

Lastly I guess I've got some apologizing to do. Anne, Ted, Steph & the rest of the crew. I'm sorry I didn't go out with you guys. You all know I'd never want to do anything to hurt any of you. I love you guys more than you realize. :-) So, I'm sorry...

I'm sorry.

Further down the spiral.

So my weekend was pretty crappy. Ended up goin out with 3 ladies, 2 of which I never met before. Well turns out that after I buy all three of them drinks, the two of them aren't the least bit interested in even spending some time talking to me. (The other girl is one of my good friends, Stephanie who I consistently have an awesome time whenever we go out.) I mean these two girls were real ice queens. So my buddy & I end up just leavin halfway thru the night, despite the good time I was havin with Steph.

Couple that with Ted dropping me on my head after he picks me up and holds me upside-down for a while. Not only did this hurt my head, but it also gave me a really bad hip pointer and smashed my cell phone. The phone got fixed but the hip got worse.

I tried running my usual mile & wind sprints at rotary on sunday when the hip injury caused me IMMENSE pain in my quadricep. I got thru the mile just fine, but the sprints caused me to limp home. I never had so much pain in my leg before. So, I came home and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Later that day, I watched the Rugrats movie - which usually isn't so bad except the Nicktoons channel played it 3 times that night. Usually I'd just get up and change the channel but in a world where remotes are unheard of and injuries plague me, I figured that my best chance to get out of this weekend alive was to just endure the movie, again, and go to sleep.

Today I wasted an entire day at a customer's house trying to find a pipe that he insisted came out on the RIGHT side of the house when I told him it came out on the left. Always listening to the customer, I went with his advice until I explained to him that the pipe was NOWHERE to be found and that it would be more productive to let me try to dig where I thought the pipe was.

BINGO.

Pipe was where I told him it was from the beginning. I'm gonna eventually stop taking things on the chin.

Lastly, I've re-focused my efforts towards writing enough songs to release my album. (Those of you close to me have been expecting this from me since EARLY 2003, so I apologize.) I've made good use of the weekend to successfully orchestrate two songs and begin work on a third. I've got lyrics and music ready to go for recording. These two new songs have a sort of "Nine Inch Nails" overtone, so they're a bit different than "Pirate Crock" and "Underground Hoes". Please be patient and if you'd like to hear a demo, let me know!

Later on.

Air Brakes.

*Screeching halt*

When you're in free fall, there are no air brakes. That's pretty much what today felt like. I was introduced to a really cool dude who just happened to be the boyfriend of the girl I wrote about a few entries ago. Yeah, didn't see that one coming...

Boy you can imagine how red my face was when he introduced himself. Needless to say I apologized for assuming the wrong thing, and he was a real class act. At least he understood. The LAST thing I want to do is ruin a relationship for ANYBODY.

When I think back about it, its probably my fault for reading into the situation too much. (I used too much oversight, hindsight or overbite :-P) So there we have it - all of my questions were answered!

I hung out with my extremely good friend, Erin, the other day. She's one of my best friends from as far back as I can remember. It was awesome seeing her again. Since she goes to Waynesburg College, its not often we get to hang out.

We were supposed to hang out again today, but she never called back. I also have an unbelievable headache I can't seem to shake. I got it while at work today when I caught some glare from the sun in my eye while in the dump truck. I was using the air brakes to slow myself down the hill, when the sun got me good in my left eye. Man, I took today on the chin...

All-in-all, I think I had better just slow down some more - put on the air brakes and just sit back and let life come at me. I made myself a promise a long time ago regarding life, though I had hoped it wouldn't come true... We'll see where these next few days go before I reveal the promise...

-Air Brakes-

More thinking.

Since SUYM hasn't been updated in a while, Jaker and I made a video. It's called "Jakerman Bird" and it will be available shortly in the shutupyourmouth.com movie section. Hope you all enjoy it. Rollo's taking care of the update.

So whats goin on, guys? I don't really have much to talk about after spewing my soul all over my last blog update ;-P. Nothing much has changed since I last blogged.

My manager, Amos "Moose" Friend, has been bitten by the love bug and is absolutely crazy about this girl named Lexi. I've yet to meet her, but it's Moose so she's gotta be awesome. Congrats on your smittenness, you rapscallion. I hope to meet her soon.

I'll let you all know if anything changes around my way. Times are good. Life is good. Hopefully it stays this way for quite a while.

Stay young and agile. :-)

What's on my mind lately.

Hey all. Here's whats on my mind as of late.

The engagement of Ted & Andrea is absolutely huge. I can't get over how terriffic that is. Congratulations again! Moving along, I've got fantasy football to look forward to which I wholeheartedly enjoy. School's starting soon too. To me, the start of the fall semester pretty much signifies the end of summer. That's a bummer. Lots to look forward to in the fall though...

My birthday is in October, so there's a bright point. Also, campfire season is almost here - which means we'll probably end up burning a hole in Ted's lawn again. LOL. I've yet to take my annual "dive into large body of water" this year, so I'm sure that's just around the bend as well. All in all, lots to come.

Finishing up, I'd just like to ramble about my lovelife a little bit. Over the course of the past month I've come to know a really special girl. She's got so much in common with me, its sometimes bewildering. It seems like everything is just "right" with her. (I don't wanna read into this too much, use too much hindsight, oversight or overbite on this, so I'm gonna withhold her name for now.)... I don't know if she even reads this blog thingy of mine, but if she does here's a little something.

I think you're the coolest girl in the world. :-)

The whole lovelife things are kinda grey. I mean, I don't even know if she feels anything similar to the way I do. I've got a good idea about where I stand, but heck, I'm still just a guy. Curse me for wanting everything to be spelled out for me. Then I get the idea that if she's so much like me, maybe she thinks like me; in that she can show a genuine interest in me, but remain somewhat distant. Who knows. One thing's for certain, though: I'm falling head over heels for her.

Catch ya all later! :-)

Engagement Announcement!

On behalf of my two best friends, Anne & Ted, I'd like to announce their engagement via my blog. Congratulations, you two. I'm so happy for the both of you! :-)

The two best friends made it official over the weekend while on their vacation. I said it before, and I'll say it again: If anything is right in this world; these two are. I'm thrilled that they're finally engaged!!!

Congratulations again guys. You both rock! :-)

5-4, Final.

That was the score of our last hockey game. We lost. The season's over and it leaves me wondering what else I can possibly do to help this team. After our playoff loss last season, it became obvious to me that I needed to do something to help the team win. I decided to work every day during the offseason to get myself ready for the upcoming season. I created a running program with a unique diet that allowed me to drop 65 pounds. This increased my speed and endurance, so this season I was able to play an entire game without a rest and barely break a sweat. I thought that was enough...

Turns out we end up being the mediocre team in C-League that is on the verge of three straight first round playoff exits. The last time we actually won a series was three seasons ago when we made it to the finals, only to lose there.

I guess I've got more work to do.

Starting Monday, I've decided to not only continue running & diet program into this offseason, but also include weight training. I guess I got so wrapped up in losing the weight that I overlooked the importance of lifting. I should have listened to Tony - he kept telling me that I should include weights in my program. Well Tony, I'll see you in the gym in a few days.

Here's looking forward to next season. Thanks to everyone on the Thundercats for a great season. I came in second on my team in total points. Here's how my final stats looked:

Thundercats

#83 Joshua Crockett

9 Goals

2 Assists

11 Points

Til next season... :-)

It is complete.

Finally, Jaker and I have pounded this job out. We filled in the ditch after fixing the problem with the pipe underneath the house. It was an utterly difficult job. First we tunnelled under the house to try to find the good section of pipe only to come to the harsh realization that the ENTIRE pipe under the house was broken. We knew what that meant; we had to go into the basement and bust up the floor. Luckily most of the floor gave way after we tunneled under the house -- (this house was OLD. The basement floor was made of DIRT covered by a thin layer of brick. I guess this was the easy part of the job? Who knows.) -- So we replaced the pipe, but had to pour a whole new corner of cement where the side of the house was busted up. Afterwards though, all that was left to do was clean up and leave. I really could use a break.

Tonight I'm going to just lounge around, eat some grapes and watch the Nicktoons channel. Message me & I'll probably be around.

Ted & Anne, I hope you guys have a terriffic vacation. Lord knows you guys deserve one! :-)

Later all.

This week, thus far.

I've been so tired lately, and I apologize for the lack of updates to SUYM. We've got a lot of good stuff in the making, but its just not ready to be released. Patience, everybody.

Recently I've been extremely busy at work. Usually Jaker and I hammer out a sewage line installation in a 1-2 day period. We're pretty good at it and we usually get the job done quickly. The job we're working on now is a real back-breaker though...

I took this job way back in April - when Jaker was still working for PennDOT. It was only 50 some feet long and the hardest part was the fact that it all had to be dug by hand. This job is in some real closed quarters with severals bends and obstacles in the way. While none of this is a real problem, our luck is slowly running dry.

We've got the ditch completely dug - all 50 some feet of it - by HAND. It's about 3 feet deep at its shallowest point, and 6 feet deep at its greatest depth. I got stuck digging the 6 foot part by myself (which is only a slight bother since Jaker does SOOOOO much for me) so I didn't complain. It keeps me fit too - GOOD exercise ditch digging is! The only real problem is that we found out that one pipe is broken underneath the house and leaking badly. We found this out AFTER we hooked up all the pipes... Ugh.

This means that I have to rip the pipe out from under the house, tunnel under the house to find a good piece of pipe, attach the correct coupler and reattach it to the sewer pipe - all within about a 3 square foot space. We're setting the finish date for TOMORROW.

We're going to have to really hustle to get it done. I know we can do it though. For the rest of the week, I'm going to be pretty beat though. Not to mention we're going to start another job probably on Thursday.

So here's everyone's warning: If I'm too tired to go out or do anything this week, you can thank the above pictures for me being dead tired. I can't afford to be beaten down when it comes time for our playoff hockey game this weekend.

Wish us luck, Jaker and I will sure need it.

The Latest & Greatest

This is where I typically wrap up the weekend. Following suit, here we go:

Hockey games!
We lost our first C-League playoff game in the best of three series on Friday evening. Saturday we had a set of playoff games, both for our C-League & B-League teams. They were back to back games at 1:30 and 2:30 in the afternoon. Luckily our C-League game came first because it was the 2nd in a best-of-three series. We managed to win the C-League game by the score of 5-4 in overtime (we lost by the same score in our previous game). What really sucked was that the B-League game came directly after the overtime win. Our whole team pretty much was spent from the opening faceoff. Two other team members showed up to play the playoff game, but we got blown out. Last time I checked the score of that game it was 8-1. Game 3 of our C-League team is on Saturday. Wish us luck --- It's DO or DIE.

Moving along, Ren & Stimpy came back to the Nicktoons channel. I'm particularly psyched about this because prior to their return, I had to stay up real late and watch SpikeTV in order to catch a glimpse of these ruffians. SpikeTV also goes to infomercial around 2:48am, so most of the last episode gets completely cut off. You can imagine my happiness.

What I'm not totally happy about is the Angry Beavers spree in which the Nicktoons channel seems to be deeply involved. Nothing against the Angry Beavers, but I can only take so much of that show. It even interfered with Invader Zim's cut of the hour! Thats one of my favorite shows on that channel, and it only comes on at 10:00pm, 1:00am & 1:30am. I'm not awake for the second two showings, so you can imagine my disappointment when I expected Invader Zim and instead get two arguing beavers... Eh, if this is my only gripe, then life must be good eh? You're damn right.

I also got some premium footage over the weekend that will be seen at some point before the year's end.

Want some new movies? We'll getcha some.

Later on, folks. :-)

Good things.

I don't really know what I did to deserve the absolute best friends, family and remote chances - but I'll take 'em all. :-)

More on these topics as more information becomes available.

Back to you, Ron.

Thank you, everybody.

Shutupyourfest went overwhelmingly well. Some have gone as far to say that this was probably the most epic party ever. I'll have pictures from the party up soon, though they are few. I guess I was having such a good time that I completely forgot to take pics.

Another tidbit for all of you faithful to my blog & SUYM. I don't think I'm going to update My Webshots again. My plan had been to get enough pictures at Shutupyourfest to create a massive photo album here at SUYM, but as I mentioned above - those just didn't come. So I'll leave it at this - as far as My Webshots is concerned - it's dead. I'm working diligently on a photo update here at SUYM. I'm currently testing it - you know, working all of the bugs out - so it may be a few more days until it's ready. It's online as we speak, but I'm not making the link public yet. I'll give it to you if you ask for it, but I warn you - its LAME so far. Don't ask for it if you aren't prepared to be disappointed. :-P

Hockey results:

• Friday's game: We won & I had 3 goals. I don't remember the score.
• Saturday's game: We lost. The score was 18-15. Yea, neither team's goalies showed up.
• Sunday's game: We lost. The score was 8-1. Nobody showed up but I assisted on the goal.

So yeah, the last two games we played sucked. Good thing the other team's goalie didn't show either. Our B-League team needs to actually show up. We're pretty good if our team actually decides to show up and play.

Lastly, lots of things - at least as far as this summer is concerned - are actually starting to make sense. I don't want to read into anything or jump to conclusions just yet, but life has been really good to me lately. My friends are absolutely killer. Work is going well. Hopefully by the time fall rolls around, we'll see if the rest of the puzzle completes itself. What do I mean by that? Well, at least SHE knows... and that makes two of us... :-)

Later on, guys.

Just... Smile...

This is just going to be a small update, but today as I was leaving Wal*Mart, I noticed three young individuals standing on a median of the highway near a traffic light. They looked like the prototypical "hippie" or "grunge" kids who are likely trying to "Save the Daffodils" or work on the "Parnership with Oxygen" project. These are the kinda kids that you would normally just ignore and say something along the lines of "Ugh, weirdos."

Turns out all these guys were doing was making the day a little lighter for everybody who drove by. There were two guys and a girl. One guy was walking along the median while the girl helped another guy hold a sign up. The sign read nothing more than these words:

Smile!

And you know what? I did... :-)

See you all in a few days at Shutupyourfest.

My Sunday

Well as usual, I have hockey games on Sunday. This particular Sunday was no exception. I was sitting outside putting together a playlist for a CD to listen to while I drive to Bill's Golfland. Everything was going great. People were actually coming to watch my team play, and we were playing a team that was very competitive. This had the makings for a really fun time. Little did I know things would take a turn for the worse.

I don't really remember much of anything - before the hit or afterwards. All I know is that when I finally came-to, I was at home. Ken tells me that I was carrying the puck across the red line when somebody stepped into me while I was skating at full speed. I can't tell you much more. My head hurts. My jaw hurts. I can't stop asking questions that I asked ten minutes ago. I hate concussions...

Did I mention that I have the absolute best friends I could ever wish to have? Ted, Anne and Rollo all made sure I was OK. Ted drove me home (from what I'm told) and hopefully we didn't scare my mom too badly with my battered self. I'm also told that we went to CiCi's (the local pizza eatery and all around good times place). I don't remember much about that either. I'm told that Joe Cirnelli was there. I don't remember him being there. In fact, why don't I just list these things.

Things I don't remember:

• Putting on my skates to play hockey.
• The hit.
• The ride home.
• The ride to Washington & CiCi's.
• The ride home.
• Giving myself a CAT scan with Murphy (my cat).
• The ride home.

Things I do remember:

• Sitting on my porch after I got home.
• Talking to Droid for a while.
• Going to bed.
• Having a dream about EVERYBODY. (And I mean EVERYBODY)
• Waking up with the worst headache ever.

Lesson to be learned? I sure wish I could remember... Concussions stink...

One week away...

Yes.... The party known as "Shutupyourfest" will held at my house exactly ONE week from now. Here's the invitation:

Shutupyourfest
"So Summer don't go no faster."

You are cordially invited to attend the festival of fun, recreation, celebration and overall drunkenness.

July 23, 2005
9:00pm - Sunday afternoon

__________________________
(Your name here)

RSVP? We don't need no stinkin' RSVP.

There. Now nobody has an excuse not to show up. I mean it - you all better come. Beer, bonfire, games, karaoke, SWIMMING POOL, tents and maybe even Joe Cirnelli. Bring friends if you want. Bring whatever you want. If you're staying, then either bring a tent or stake out a couch somewhere in the house.

If anybody wants to help Rollo & I setup for this thing, I would GREATLY appreciate it.

Cya there. :-)

Thank you, Ali.

For a really cool weekend with some very cool people.

See, my friend Ali had a killer party over the weekend that succeeded in giving me the absolute worst hangover I've had in years. You've gotta tip your hat to a gal who can do that to you. :-)

Throughout the party I met some very cool ladies. Katie #1, Katie #2 & Liz made the party very interesting from the start. These West Chester ladies kicked off the party with Ali and myself in a grand game of circle of death. They use a different rulebook than we do, but it was awesome to say the least. These ladies also gave me the absolute WORST nicknames ever to grace my Crockness. Some of them include:

• Crockpot
• Crockroach
• Jon Burger

Even though the nicknames weren't exactly my cup of tea, they all totally won me over. They're a crew that I'll party with again anyday. Ladies - you're awesome.

We also had other festivities such as a flipcup tourney, dancing, flipcup-dancing (Rollo and our Katie) and I got to see a lot of other friends who I typically only see once or twice a year. The only real regret I have about this party is forcing myself to leave because I drank too much. I gotta start using better judgement...

Lastly, in hockey we played a few games on Monday night. We lost one and won the other. Becca and D came to the game to support my team. I wanna thank you girls for coming out. You're both the best. :-)

There's so much more to write about, but I'd rather just either save it for later or talk to you online about it. Hit me up on AIM. :-)

CYA!

Thank you, Russ.

For a weekend to remember. For a weekend that will forever live on in my heart. For a weekend I'd love to repeat for years to come. Dude, you kick ass. Thanks for including me in the festivities.

During the weekend we had 2 rounds of Karaoke. I placed first both times. I don't really mean to toot my own horn, but man I seriously love to sing and wish I could do it more often. I wish I was a lot better at singing than I am. No matter how much I practice (and this may come as a shock - but I practice A WHOLE BUNCH) I don't seem to get much better... Ah well...

I''m also looking for somebody---ANYBODY---to come and play catch. Granted I don't even so much as have a frisbee to my name, but I'll go get one (or a baseball or football or whatever) if I know somebody will come throw it with me. THIS IS AN OPEN INVITATION! Whoever wants to toss around a baseball or frisbee or whatever, just hit me up.

As for the rest of things, they're getting more and more perfect as the summer goes on. I don't think I've ever had such a good time in all my days walking this wonderful earth. So if you're reading this, GOD, keep up the amazing work!

Cya later.

Holy Cow.

Wow. Let's just jump right into this.

My buddy Russ won a pallet of beer. To commoners - that means roughly 25 cases. Ah, but my friend Russ is no commoner. This kid is a friggin genius. He takes his winnings very seriously. He gets about 18 cases of beer BUT the beer he chose ends up being some expensive stuff. From NewCastle to WoodChuck, he had a veritable beer feast. Needless to say, we had a very interesting evening. Oh and the best part is that we get to do it all over again tonight! We didn't even put a dent in that "beer mountain" as Russ put it. Whew! Good times all over the friggin place.

We also played Karaoke Revolution which I dominated from the second song I sang up until when I left around 2:30am. Maybe they were just easy-to-sing songs, but I still get a kick out of singing whenever and wherever I can.

I'm gonna either go play some frisbee today or maybe go run a few miles before the drinking resumes.

Later on.

Heyyyy

What a relaxing day. Since it rained yesterday, I got the day off from work. (Can't dig or do much excavation in the rain) It's currently raining and I'm out on the back porch just sittin' here with the dog enjoying the storm. Oh yea, since its storming now - I probably won't have to work tomorrow either -- SCORE! Maaaaan, the simple things sure can be enjoyable sometimes. In fact, the simple things in life are pretty much all I really need. Give me a rainy afternoon, a porch and my dog and I'll have a great time. Yeah, life is good. :-)

On the agenda for the rest of the day:

- Haircut

- Bar

Not a bad selection. Call my cell if you'd like to join me at the bar. If you'd like to join me for the haircut---that's just weird...

Ice, out.

Hello, friends.

Hi!

First off, I wanna say thanks to Tony for showing up at a recent hockey game of mine. I know I can count on you for just about anything. Seriously. Thanks man.

In other news, I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up-to-date on my webshots. I've been taking a lot of good pics, but I've been using the digital camera on the job more often now and I haven't gotten around to taking it out of my truck. One of these days I'll eventually remember to bring it in the house with me when I get home from work and then - and only then - will I have an update thats worthwhile.

Speaking of the truck - quite recently the old Ranger decided to take a dip for the worse and bleed to death on me. It developed an engine miss along with a problem with the 4x4 system. This, coupled with the rusty bed and graffiti'd tailgate stirred me into action. If you clicked the link you'll notice the picture is of both myself and a very different truck. I traded the old Ranger in on a 2003 Chevy Silverado 2500HD and MAAAAAN does this sucker have some power.

The new truck (which I've yet to decide on a name -- I'm tossing around calling it either "Big Time" or "Ron Burgundy") is absolutely amazing. It's got a 6.6L Duramax diesel engine and feels like its got enough power to pull over a large house or small barn. The interrior is LOADED and comes complete with four doors. It's one hell of a truck and fun to drive. I can't wait to start towing around some equipment.

Gettin' mushy again; lots of new appreciations and realizations are beginning to flow through me like a river filled with fresh-water salmon. So many of my friends have some amazing qualities about themselves. I spent a good hour talking with Andrea after the Fayette County Rib Cookoff in my truck while Ted and Rollo rode in the bed. We just BS'd about general things until the topic of her & Ted's relationship came up. Here's the bottom line: I tell you, if ever two people were meant to be on this earth - it's my two very awesome friends Ted & Andrea. I hope that one day, if I ever decide to date again, that my relationship is one TENTH that of theirs. Not only are they BEST FRIENDS, they're soulmates. Every single time I think about that it brings a huge smile to my face. :-) If there was a "how-to" guide to relationships, I'm sure these two could write the book. If ever anything was right in the world - these two are. :-)

And it doesen't stop there. So many of my friends have so many unbelievable qualities that I'd have to create and unbelievable list that many of you who read my blog would not only consider to be unbelievable but also unreadable. Thanks to everyone who's always there for me, always around and always a part of my life. That's what its all about.

Thanks guys. :-)

"He hurt his eatin' rib!"

-Andrea Williams

Anywho, it was a Rollo full of ice cream and cramps that brought the above title into this world. Now, onto better things!

The two hockey games over the weekend went well. We won both of them and I had two assists, bringing my point total thus far in the season to five. On a more sad note - I've yet to have a single friend besides my mom and sis come watch my games this year. It's especially disheartening because a whole slew of people used to come and watch. It sucks that my friends used to sit through loss after loss for the past two summers and now that we're winning, nobody is showing up. I tell ya, its awfully nice to look into the stands and see some pals - even if it is just some summer roller hockey league.

Wrapping things up a bit more deeply than usual, I've been getting a feeling lately like something absolutely HUGE is going to happen soon. This feeling has been pulsing through me like a million blue cats running full speed in the wrong direction on a one-way street towards the sweet allure of a satisfying bowl of milk for almost a week. Now, I'm not talking about SUYM at all when I say that (This is strictly about Crock-life), but lately things have been so good that everything feels like its going to just round out with a terrific, amazing bang. I certainly hope that it - whatever it may be - happens soon. :-)

Catchya round.

Hello, Beautiful!

Several things on the agenda for today. First and foremost: Ted got a new necktie. While I'm not exactly sure about the details of the tie, one can bet that it was absolutely FANTASTIC. There also was the soon-to-be-due homework for an online class I'm taking this summer. Environmental Geology: What you never thought you might not have known. Not a big deal here.

Secondly, I've got a hockey game at 4:30pm at Bill's Golfland. I strongly urge anybody who reads this to come. I'm serious, even if you live in another country, it's worth the flight-in.

Next I'll be collaborating with Rollo on some ideas for an upcoming SUYM project. We've got the plotline pretty much planned out, now we've gotta institute the proper execution. It's definately gonna be interesting to see how it all falls together and, like always, it will be available for download when it's complete. Keep checking the site!

Finally, after the day is through, one last joke will be played. With the help of Jaker, we plan on scaring the be-jesus out of my old man later on tonight. It, too, will be filmed and if it turns out well enough - might be included on the upcoming SUYM DVD.

...Wait...

Did he just say upcoming DVD???... You betcha... Tons of unreleased footage... And we're shooting for a September release...

Til next time!

It's Just a Name!

Right. So, since pretty much everyone who uses the internet has one of these blogs - I caved and decided to get one as well. So much for nonconformism. If that's even a word. For those of you who've been wondering why I might have waited so long to begin my blogventure here's the number one reason: "The Infamous Memoirs". I'm a bit worried that the content I place here will take away from the content I put into the memoirs. Let's all hope this doesn't happen.

Moving right along. I chose the name "Sex Panther" not only because many people are gonna see the word "Sex" and be immediately driven to this thing, but because I decided the title of my blog should come from a movie so legendary that it practically defined the summer of 2004 --- Anchorman. You'll remember that Sex Panther was the cologne that Brian Fantana used in a failed attempt to make a pass at Ms. Veronica Corningstone.

Wrapping things up, I absolutely hate this blog template. I've spent the better part of an afternoon trying to find a decent template that would fit with SUYM's CSS and there is so little to choose from that I'm thinking about sticking with the default (which is even worse than this). What a buncha friggin crap. I'm going to try to keep this updated as much as possible. Gotta go find Murphy. Later on.