Today is Baby Che’s 22nd birthday! My baby sister is 22 years old man!!!

22!!!

I remember when she was a little toddler like it was yesterday…okay it was a far away yesterday, but still….My little Che Che is grown up!

My two sisters are beautiful women now! And me, well I’m an average looking grumpy old alcoholic man….they got all the good genes I tell ya!

I know I’ve missed my Sopranos wrap ups the past two weeks, I plan to do both episodes either later today or tomorrow…..hold tight, but don’t hold your breath.

Time to watch A Different World!

First I got to give you some background. Around December or so of 2004 the homie Geoff told me to save up some money for the following spring because we were going to Houston again. He told me that his older brother George had a group of friends that picked a city every year and traveled to it and drank and kicked it. So that spring came, and not really knowing what to expect I ended up having a GREAT weekend in Houston and becoming a FAR (Fellas Annual Reunion) Brother.

I was looking forward to this year in Phoenix for many reasons. One is because I was no longer a rookie and didn’t have to make drinks anymore. Another is that these niggas kick it VERY VERY hard. Like they are all older than me, by a few years, but they stay up ALL night drinking, smoking, whatever! I was fully prepared to turn Phoenix out. Plus there was the off chance that I would run into someone who I had chatted/conversed on message boards with for a long time, one of my favorite ladies ever. AND I was hoping for some In-N-Out Burger.

So we embarked on our journey on Thursday morning. As SOON as we hit the airport there was a hailstorm. The superstitious side of me got SUPER nervous at that point, but as it turns out, that was the only thing bad that would happen.

We arrived in Phoenix around 11 or so local time. From the plane it goes a little something like this….mountain…..bush…mountain….shrub…..mountain….dirt….no grass….this is the muthafucking desert!!!…mountain….BOOOOOOM A CITY IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL OF THIS SAND AND ROCK?!!?!

Anyway we got there and Big George and Rob were waiting with the rental cars. We get to the AmeriSuites in Scottsdale (where we spent most of our time) and our rooms weren’t ready so we went to the grocery store and got a bunch (like over 100 bottles/cans) of beer and some chicken and shit for sandwiches and set up the “hospitality room” to hold us over until the liquor got there.

As people arrived we greeted and shit and caught up on old times. The hotel folks set us up with a nice room for the hospitality suite. They even opened up the partition and helped us fill a trashcan with ice for the beer and shit, and left a TV for niggas to watch.

Anyway niggas arrived, food was ate, beer was drank….after awhile A.J. arrived with the liquor and it REALLY popped off….

We rolled out on the town to Majerle’s….as in Dan Majerle’s restuarant/nightclub. It was a good starter move for us. We came up in there with our FAR pins on and made the spot 10 times liver than it was before we came….and we left when it was closing….that’s how we do.

Friday niggas kicked up the drinking into high gear and then rolled out to not one, not two, but THREE places….all of them were live!! Each of the first two spots were hard to leave. But each next spot ended up being worth it.

The first spot was Club Central which was in the city proper. They had two different levels and multiple bars, which is always good. It was like an afterwork spot and there were quite a few women in there. The drinks were 2 for 1 as well. We got the most out of that spot and then headed over to the American Legion Post.

Now this was my first time in one of those, I have to admit, it was just as jumping as the other spot in some ways. Niggas ALSO came up on a chicken wing meal that was off the chain.

Finally we ended up in Club Next (which it turns out was a freaking BLOCK from the hotel) in Scottsdale. In line for Next we saw Baltimore Raven Linebacker/Defensive End Terrell Suggs (dude is huge). As SOON as we got in there there was a fight though. Some CHICK hit a dude upside the head with a bottle or something (you always know the sound of glass shattering on someone’s skull once you hear it one time). The fight actually worked to our advantage because it cleared out the booth that the fighters had for us. After making my obligatory lap around the club and ordering a drink or two, I settled in the booth where we flashed our room key lights and had a good ass time til the club closed down. I’m leaving out some details, but trust, EVERYBODY had a good ass time.

Anyway after some other fun shenanigans, niggas turned in for the night to get 4 hours or so of sleep for Saturday.

Saturday’s daylight hours were mainly for drinking and watching playoff basketball and watching Chris Byrd get DESTROYED by Wladimir Klitchsko.

That night we continued our tour of clubs. We hit up the club next door, E4, which was a multimillion dollar playground for white folks. It was beautiful, but not really our kind of crowd. I managed to get a kamikaze shot out of it though. Then we walked to this club called Myst where we tried to haggle with the bouncer to get in for free to no avail, though I know someone who DID get in for free. It was at that moment that I met the most beautiful woman on the entire world wide web. The one and only “Divine Honey” Natay. She ended up going in there and getting “hella drunk” as we continued our weekend long game of text tag. I ended up settling into this spot Axis/Radius (two clubs connected). It was cool, once again, we stayed until it let out.

Then I ended up talking to Natay again and deciding to meet her and her friend Bri at the Denny’s down Scottsdale Rd. After initially going back and forth the wrong ways, we ended up making it.

The Denny’s was GHEEEEETTTOOOO…we had this gay ass waiter, who served bad milkshakes that flies ended up falling into, but hey, the company was good, even if it was too brief….

Anyway, I headed back after that and went to sleep.

Sunday niggas parted ways….heading to the BUSY ass Phoenix airport where we watched most of the Pistons game. Then we got on the plane and had the BEST seats on that summabitch (thank goodness for A passes and arriving early to the Southwest gate).

But the shenanigans weren’t over quite yet. On the plane, one of the craziest chicks I’ve ever met in life sat between Geoff and I. She apparently knew Geoff and Dave from TSU and Geoff saved her a seat as a result. Man this chick was nuts! From ordering a cranberry juice with no ice and then not drinking it, to her reaction to Geoff’s story about getting his nose bitten off by a tiger that escaped the Detroit Zoo in 1988, this chick was just unbelievable.

All in all though niggas had fun. I’m tired as hell and BROKE as hell as a result, but it was worth it.

And that’s that…..

This entry is not a reference to “that other” creeper. You know the guy who used to teach at Meharry and would come along and tear up your cadaver’s recurrent laryngeal nerve and then have Dr. Jackson yelling at you? I mean you should beware him too, especially if you are at the liquorfest and they bring in swing dancers and he’s one of them, but this entry isn’t about that.

No, this is about the drink….

Never heard of the creeper? Neither had I until the homie Geoff who LONG before he was up for medical doctorial candidacy was a doctor of all things alcohol, put me up on it. Actually Geoff didn’t make it up as much as he passed it along from the homie D. Story.

The creeper consists of Hennessy and cranberry juice….and that’s it. It actually tastes better with MORE Hennessy than cranberry and the cranberry masks the alcohol SO well. You drink a few, and before you know it, you are drunk. Hence the moniker, the Creeper.

The homie Dave created a cousin to the creeper called the Sneaker. This one ALSO sneaks up on you (see the naming is so easy!). This time it’s made with Southern Comfort and Sprite. For those of you who have to take the occassional early morning flight and need a drink to build your nerve, or you just need that eye opener, the Sneaker is officially approved as a morning drink, more so than the Creeper.

One should be warned that the creeper will cause more than the normal alcoholic impairment. You may talk all the way through a classic movie like “From Dusk Til Dawn” or even try to fight a nigga *looks @ young Tasha*. You may also drop your cellular phone in it, not a good look. And well, the creeper has other approved uses….you all are smart….you know where I’m going.

So anyway, incorporate the Creeper into your group of drinks. Hennessy IS the official drink of the black race after all!

First of all, never underestimate the amount of energy travel (even passive) can take from you over time. My battery right now is as tapped out as my battery on my cell phone, even when I plug in, I only last a few hours at most.

The Atlanta trip….

The trip home was fun for me on several levels, even if it was rife with financial mismanagement.

We started out on the road Thursday in the H2. Man that thing rides smooth, even if a fill up nowadays is as much as a brand new pair of Air Force Ones!

As all road trips with me, Geoff, and Dave go, the drinking started early. Along with Drea, we immediately started drinking first some mixed drinks (they were drinking a concoction called “the 06″, I was drinking some Hennessy and Dr. Pepper), then cracking the beers. And well, you know how it goes with drinking, the “seal got broken” early. In other words niggas got the pissys. The upside of it was we got a chance to stop at one of the best rest stops in the country, along the Tennessee River. But the trip took a little longer than normal, which I guess isn’t really a downside, so I don’t know why I set it up like that *shrug*.

Anyway, I always love it when we pull up into the horizon of Atlanta’s skyline. Even as changes are made in buildings, and the traffic gets worse on 75/85, there is still no feeling like hitting the ATL.

So yeah we hit the city, stop at the BP on North Avenue and by pure luck I get us to the Hilton Downtown without having to go in 10 circles. We get to the front and get ready to unload and check in when we get into a haggling match with this old New York Transplanted parking attendent/bellhop. He tried to play us like some country bumpkins, which annoyed us, but you know nowadays it comes with the territory in the ATL.

Anyway, we settled into the room, which had a great view of the pool deck (it was hot that weekend, and well….we got lots of great views of….the ever changing ATL skyline….all weekend).

After more drinking and Dave sparking one down in Marcel and Lawrence’s room, we hooked up with the homie Drew Lewis. The plan was to grab some food at Mick’s and then go out to the Leopard Lounge. Well turns out Mick’s is closed (the Killa pauses for the cause and sheds a tear here!). We ended up going to Hooters instead. I ran into some of my mom’s friends up in there, which was kind of strange, but otherwise it was par for the Hooter’s course, which is to say, passable food and service, but nice eye candy.

Afterward we headed back and changed and rolled out to attempt to go to the Leopard Lounge. If you haven’t been there before, I should tell you, if you don’t arrive EARLY, you have to wait in the most discouraging line in the world. It wraps around the NEXT building and works on a “one in, one out” kind of deal. When we first pulled up there was NO LINE though. We were actually kind of geeked about it. Talk about your premature celebrations. By the time we actually parked the car and walked back over to the LL, the line was at it’s usual discouraging length!

We got in some good quality line kicking it. You know where you meet some people and hold a few meaningless converstaions? That kind of kicking it. Anyway after awhile the propietor of the place next door (Staley’s Grace) told us that they had a margarita special if we got tired of waiting in line, and well….for Geoff at least, that was enough temptation to say eff it….on top of that, they offered him a free drink for everyone he could coax into coming over there. Needless to say we ended up over there. I enjoyed myself talking with the homie E. Union (who is prolly still in Italy as I type this….happy belated beautiful!), but we soon broke camp. Drew took us on a late night venture to Atlantic Station which seems like it is a cool spot when it’s actually open.

That was Thursday in a nutshell….man this is going to be long…this is why I was procrastinating on it!

Friday…..well Friday first of all….we slept in….its really great to go to SNMA and not be an actual delegate. None of those meetings filled with Roberts Rules of Rhetoric, no fake ass hobnobbing with pretentious assholes, and NO FLIPPING suits! Anyway after watching umpteen episodes of “Yo Mama” (Wilmer is giving away CAAAHSH MO-NEE!) we rolled out to Lenox Mall. Lenox is the same as it always is. After awhile Drew met us and we walked over to Twist where I had some sushi and drinks. I see why folks eff with Twist, it’s a cool little spot. We headed back to the hotel and me and Dave hung out for awhile outside and smashed a few beers (one smashed literally during an awkward handshake Dave had with someone). I ran into Deah (this is your shout out!) for all of 30 seconds, but it was a QUALITY 30 seconds! I had a few awkward encounters with this old FUNNY acting chick from Spelman who goes to Howard now (weird ass chick!). Then….we rolled out to the party at Underground in this spot called Motions.

Now generally being an Atlanta native, I try to steer clear of Underground, it’s a typical tourist trap type deal usually, but this club was OFF the chain. The sign outside said, “Latin Sol” which I guess is the former name of the club, but man it was nice. As nice inside as the old Kaya or Velvet Room (but not quite “Visions”esque). Anyway, before we even made it to the club, as we were getting off of the charter bus, there was a chick outside who had to have weighed 105 pounds soaking wet who was barfing her entire life out! I caught it first and was like, “Ohhhhhhhhhhhh”, after the 4th hurl, the whole bus was with me, like, “oooooooooooooooohhhhhh!”. I’m pretty sure that chick had to go to the hospital, and this was before the party even started!!!!

Anyway the party was cool, but we had to bounce. So we hopped a cab. The first cabbie we tried to call over flashed us with his lights, so Dave hilariously cursed him out…it was the guts. The second cabbie had a van which worked for us since we had 7 (we still had to put Marcel in the trunk!). We were trying to go to IHOP, but the cabbie made a good suggestion and we ended up going to City Cafe. What followed was the funniest, post-club, drunk as hell, one eye open Geoff experience ever! Dave was trying to get Geoff to co-sign on his stories about Captain Detroit, but man, Geoff could barely keep his head up. We boxed up his food and headed out. Somehow we made it back to the hotel after a “too long for after the club” walk. We hung in the lobby for awhile (which is always a good move at SNMA), and then turned in.

Saturday for me was family day (at least after Rhiante didn’t come through on the Six Flags tickets). My mom tried to get the Mickey D’s people to spit in my food by telling them at the FIRST window that it was the slowest Mickey D’s on Earth. Moms isn’t familiar with the concept of complaining AFTER you get your food, either that or she didn’t care since SHE wasn’t eating it. I spent some time with my dad which was good for my soul (I had been feeling like a terrible son lately). I bought my dad a pack of cigarettes messed with my conscience and kinda still irks me….it made him happy, which made me happy…but I wish he’d stop smoking you know?…anyway enough of that….

After family time I headed back to the hotel in time to drink some more, make a run to crickets, and hedge about 4 or 5 times on going to Magic City. In the meantime, I saw my friend Tiffany who was looking really good. The homie Nicole also came through and kicked it with us in the lobby for awhile as we watched people go to the SNMA banquet and snarked on them in an alcohol fueled rage!

I finally decided I was going to go to Magic City (with a loan from the homie Dave) and man, I’m glad I did. The ballers weren’t in there, which meant that that night WE were the ballers. On top of that, I ran into the homies Nile and Mike. Nile, despite being an ATL native, had never been to Magic City before….and from what I could tell, he LOVED it. As I stated on a message board when I got back, Magic City is like Disney World for grown folks! It was funny when certain female members of the entourage (*cough*TTandDrea*cough*) made attempts to give tips to the dancers. Going to the strip club with girls is always a good move!

After much fun was had, and many dollar bills were thrown, we headed out and turned in for the night…..again after more lobby kicking it….

And then, Sunday morning….we left….

And that…was Atlanta….

We’ll catch up more tomorrow….

The title of this entry is a song by Public Enemy in case anyone doesn’t know/is wondering.

I’m leaving early in the morning (like I should be sleeping now) to head to Phoenix. I just want to give you 3 people who still come by here a heads up on the things I’ll be writing about soon:

1) The ATL trip
2) The Creeper
3) This trip here

Until then….HOLLA

So let me get this straight….for the record….

When one asks a question or a series of questions and the other person replies open and honestly, that’s NOT the right thing to do? Is the proper thing to do to become a yes man and tell people what they want to hear and blow roses and sunshine up their ass? Let me know because I’ll start doing that. Don’t be FOOLED I know the password, I know the magic “open sesame” right thing to say, but I was under the understanding that people KNOW what I’m all about at this point.

Guess not.

You can sell yourself on a dream, but I’m not gonna follow suit! I’m not in the business of selling people on a dream nor am I in the business of letting them do so to themselves under false pretenses, after all, I wasn’t the one who propositioned in the first place. As a matter of fact I was doing pretty well with my personal state of being antebellum…..

I swear man….fuck it all!

Anyway *one last sigh*….

I’m going out of town. I wasn’t really that excited about doing so, but then I talked to my boy E-Meezy and he is going to be where I’ll be as well (at some point) so that’s a good thing.

I’ll try not to be so “Cameron Frye”-like this weekend, but it’s going to be hard. I’m in a sort of fuck it mood of late (see above).

The Killa Cal “Fuck it, I’m broke and irascible” World Tour is kicking off in earnest!

*Note: This entry concerns Episode 5 (as well as the previous episodes) of Season 6 of the Sopranos. If you haven’t seen it yet and want a spoiler free viewing, skip this entry*

First of all, I was pretty much certain this would be a great episode when I saw the directors credit go to Steve “Tony B” Buscemi.

So we open with Rusty (Frankie Valli) viewing an invitation to Johnny Sack’s daughter’s wedding. The first thing I thought when I saw this was, “Why the flip is he getting an invitation to the wedding of the daughter of a dude who would just as soon see him dead!” I think his on screen reaction was about the same as mine.

We fast forward a few weeks (6 to be exact) to Johnny Sack in a prison holding cell. His lawyer comes in with a suit for him. Say what you will about Johnny Sack, but dude can dress! If he’s not supposed to be John Gotti I don’t know who he is!

He arrives in court and requests to leave prison to attend his daughter’s wedding. His request was granted with some provisions, namely federal escorts and metal detectors at the wedding financed from his own pocket. Good for him.

Meanwhile Tony has a new bodyguard/driver. We learn that the former “Runner Up Mr. Teen Bloomfield” or whatever he called himself is also quite the hothead…and he’s pretty muscular….David Chase doesn’t draw our attention to stuff like this for nothing.

Tony is on his way to Satriale’s it turns out (after a brief stop at Dr. Melfi’s where he asks for a “mercy fuck” have jokingly!), and the gang’s all there, playing cards in their usual way too tense fashion. Knowing Tony would arrive soon, they got him a bialy. Unfortunately Tony can’t eat the onions in it so they have to scoop them out. No biggie. Then Tony and the fat bald dude (I guess he’s named Bissell but I don’t know) start talking about caring for the….errr…disabled. Yeah we get it Tony, you still aren’t 100%!

After awhile Tony is winded so he decides to leave, but not before Phil arrives, wanting to “bend Tony’s ear” (sounds painful). Phil says that Johnny wants “the mayor of munchkinland” which is a very funny way of describing the diminutive Frankie Valli gone. Tony refuses.

Johnny Sack meets with his family about wedding plans. He’s a real family man that guy! Family is definitely his weakness. The daughter Allegra who is getting married has the ummmm….same weighty issue as her mother, but the other daughter Catherine has just the opposite issue. She appears to be anoerexic right down to her anger at the family’s discussion of food. Interesting family dynamic there!

Anyway Tony gets home and takes a nap with Carmella…..they are super lovey dovey lately. Wonder how long that will last!

Chris has a run in with the Arabs from an earlier episode. He gives them some credit card numbers and they ask for some tech-9’s! I wonder how Chris will feel the next time Tony is discussing terrorism with him knowing he’s helping to fund it. Hope the feds don’t find out!

We come back to Johnny Sack who is introduced to the two federal marshalls he will be escorted by. He also gets his tux and goes all metrosexual about the patent leather shoes, asking if his lawyer has read an issue of GQ recently….who reads GQ?

Everyone in the NY Metropolitan Area with mob ties is apparently at this wedding based on the line. I think I saw Paulie with Rosalie Aprile…..wow.

Anyway Tony has a problem when he gets to the metal detector. He has to take his shoes off which proves to be a problem. He looks really weak as he almost passes out and has to have Fat bald guy take his shoes off for him.

During the wedding Chris has the best dialogue of the season so far in my opinion when discussing Allegra’s name.

Chris: Allegra, isn’t that that cold medicine?
Paulie: Allegra is Italian for happiness.
Chris: What the fuck does that have to do with cold medicine?

The Killa Cal: ahahahahahahah!!!

Anyway, the wedding is over, we are now at the reception. Johnny Sack dropped some serious cheese on this. After enduring more Vito flirting with Finn we find out that $425K was the price paid for Allegra’s happiness (zing!!).

Tony and Johnny talk business, Tony agrees to off Frankie Valli. Chris once again undermines Tony’s decision even mentioning One (Godfather One for the unschooled) as evidence that TONY should be the one making requests not the other way around (actually Tony makes the distinction, but still Chris doesn’t like it and thinks it’s a “pussy ass” move).

The reception moves along with a cake cutting sequence done to the tune of “the Farmer in the Dell”. Johnny is informed that his 6 hours is up and he has to go back.

We go outside now to send off the bride and groom, things are going great, and then as they are about to pull off, BLRRRRRRR, the sirens of Johnny Sack’s escorts. The marshalls block the daughter off and make a scene about hauling Johnny’s ass back to jail. It was really embarrassing and shows me that I don’t ever want to get on the feds bad side, they are some heartless pricks. Anyway this makes Johnny cry….bad bad bad move.

Later on a discussion led by Phil drives this point home. He says that in his estimation his view of Johnny as a man has plummeted. Tony tries to provide some perspective, but even Chris (who should know better with is Godfather knowledge! Never take sides against the family) sides against Tony on this one. Johnny had a serious, serious moment of weakness. I get the feeling it’s going to come back to haunt him.

Speaking of coming back to haunt. Vito’s gayness….yeah I guess being at a heterosexual wedding was too much for Vito because he dipped out on his wife to make a collection, a collection of some leather clad, gancing, gay booty at the gay bar!

Too bad for Vito that some straight wiseguys were coming to get some REAL collections of their own and they ran into Urban Cowboy Vito as he was making the moves on some guy. Various sexual slurs were thrown as Vito tried to convince them it was all a big joke.

Vito comes home and grabs a gun and for a minute I thought he was going to off his family and then himself, but instead he goes to some motel. The same song from last week plays about Jimmy Brown or someone, this time instead of talking about his birth they talk about his wedding. Hmmmmmm….

Anyway Vito calls Sil at the ungodly hour of close to 3AM, I guess to see if the guys he ran into ratted him out yet. He has a bag with him, so it looks like Vito might go on the lam!

Tony meets with Melfi again, who gives him some advice about acting “as if”. Tony twists her advice. He sizes up the room (like Feech La Manna claims he did on his first day in prison), and then starts some shit with Runner up Mr. Teen Bloomfield, working him over and showing that he’s not to be fucked with. No moment of weakness there….yet anyway. It took alot out of Tony as we go into the bathroom with him and see him puke what appears to be blood. Not a good sign.

All in all a great episode! Way to not let me down Mr. Pink!

So I’ve completely lost the poker magic!

At first I thought it was just online, where I’d gone from an average finish of about 200 (of 2400) to not lasting more than 15 minutes (finishing like 2000th). Then I find out last night that it extends to the “real world”. Last night in two tournament style games I was the first player finished each time!

I still had a good time shooting the shit and talking about music and TV and such, but I am a below average poker player now.

Other things suck too, but there are glimpses of sunshine, so you know I’m kinda holding on.

Sorry this is a short entry, but I have more things to say on other subjects….maybe later. For now it’s myspace time!

*note: This entry contains material which may be a spoiler for episode 4 of season 6 (as well as previous episodes) of the Sopranos…read another entry or something if this bothers you*

Okay remember in the first episode when Tony tells AJ something to the extent of, “the only people you can trust are your family”, David Chase and company are going to great lengths this season to THOROUGHLY disprove that notion. First Uncle Jun shoots Tony and now these issues with Paulie.

I didn’t know what to think when the episode opened with Paulie leaving a scuba supply store. Even still, who buys scuba shoes for old ladies? Does that really work?

Anyway, I knew exactly where they were going as SOON as he starts talking to his Aunt/Ma/Whoo-wa (I love how italians pronounce Whore, it’s much better than the ebonical Ho!). I did NOT however expect Paulie, the quintessential mama’s boy to react the way that he did to the shocking news.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t expect him to be especially jovial with Nucci (the woman he treated as his “ma” for all those years), but throwing the $2000 flat screen TV out of the window (and I seriously thought it was going to land on someone like in Happy Gilmore). I halfway expected him to choke her to death or smother her sort of like he did her friend who caught him trying to steal the money from under her mattress in season 4!

And I really admire David Chase’s use of projection later in the episode when the once and future Mama’s boy starts to extort the Sanitation Prince Barone and CALLS HIM a mama’s boy after listening to her pleas and intercession to Tony on his behalf. Of course this is probably going to lead to Paulie’s eventual death, but hey at this point I don’t think too many viewers would shed many tears, other than the loss of some classic lines of dialogue.

The other subplots were fairly interesting though I must say that overall the first post Finnerty episode was sort of tepid.

Great commentary on the hip hop world. I bet it really goes down like that. They really made Lord Jamar’s character a pussy….from his whining about losing his thumb to him moaning, “it hurts!”, what a chump. I bet Fiddy sounded like that when he got shot!

How about Bobby claiming “marksman” to convince Treach to let him shoot him? That was funny enough, but then when he ends up shooting him in the ass and Treach shouts, “He shot me in the asssssss!!” I almost died laughing.

Something else about this episode, I saw one of the reasons I love Tony Soprano as a character. He’s really an open minded guy for what he is. I mean he was asking Bell Labs buddy (played by Hal Holbrook who should get an emmy for that appearance) those questions with genuine interest. Tony really does take in things like philosophy and real life events (Katrina and terrrorism for instance) and think about it, even if he doesn’t come to the same conclusions I might, but still he’s got more dimensions than say….Paulie.

I also liked how they dealt with religion (which is ironic given my conversations on Saturday…see the previous entry). Evangelical Buddy made some good points about salvation, but of course negated it all with his “the earth is 6000 years old” bit. I love Chris’s dismissal of it with his, “Adam and Eve woulda been running terrified, that ain’t paradise!” logic. Fundamentalists suck ass, but that’s just my opinion.

It seems Tony is really seeking some peace, we’ll see how long that lasts. I loved how Janice dismissed him as they were leaving.

That Phil Leotardo….I don’t know what to make of him yet, even after 4 episodes. He’s so old school, but you KNOW he’s plotting something.

And thank GOD that Vito was at a MINIMUM this week, the next major scene with him better deal with him taking a bullet and getting chopped up a la “Cleaver!”

Anyway, I can’t wait for next week.

That’s what my life has turned into. Everyday is a countdown to the next episode of the Sopranos. I don’t know how I feel about that.

Today is my Dad’s birthday. It reminds me of when I was a kid, I once cracked a joke about how he was born a day too late, and he made this big deal about how I’d hurt his feelings. In reality he was joking (I get my sense of humor from him), but I remember feeling SO BAD about it. I’m trying Dad…I’m trying…..

Anyway yesterday I went to the Antioch Bailey’s to watch the Final Four games which were probably the worst in my entire life. The games were complete blowouts and the teams are so anonymous! At one point Geoff remarked about the fact that he couldn’t name a single player on UCLA’s team. Maybe it’s the “east coast bias” but I didn’t know anything about them either until the tourney started. Supposedly they’d won the Wack-10 and the conference tourney. Go figure, I guess they didn’t come out of nowhere. But whoever wins between them and Florida will be the most anonymous champion since the 1985 Villanova team!

Anyway, since the games got boring, I was able to spout alot of my controversial rhetoric and internet influenced opinion. I got into a “discussion” about religion, with two of the few people I probably could. Dave and Wendell can handle such topics without getting offended, even when I bring up agnosticism and athieism. I got an e-mail from a reader this week who happens to be an athiest and she was saying that southern religious people are very judgemental and I happen to agree. I think the biggest thing is that they can’t stand any type of challenge to their beliefs. They use their beliefs as a crutch and when you kick that crutch out from under them they start to swing at you with it. I probably lost 2 readers right there, but hey, that’s how I feel. You can pull a “Chef” but this episode of South Park will go on. Anyway, I’ve said too much, but suffice to say it was interesting!

I also revealed my grand film making plans. Let’s just say that they better not ever give me an Oscar!

Speaking of movies, I went to the Hustler store yesterday and happened to look at the prices of the flicks and realized why I’ll stick to ummmm….the status quo. Friggin $40 bucks for a p0rn0?? NO pr0n movie is worth that much and whoever is paying that much is being jipped! I’ll stick to the offensive t-shirts from Hustler….I mean they are overpriced too, but not so much as those movies! My sensibilities were offended! I mean if you are gonna have me in a section of the store with buttplugs and dongs at least have some reasonable prices, I don’t think I’m asking too much.

Last thing, and I’m done….so when I got home, after harrassing a few people in IMs (hi Liz, Janea, and Rebekah) I got in bed and searched the guide and found a Martin episode, so I clicked info and saw that it ran from 1:30 AM to 3:00 AM!! I was tripping out, like, “Damn I didn’t know they made a 90 minute episode of Martin”. It took like 5 minutes for my dumbass to realize that the time was scheduled to go to Daylight Savings. Then when I woke up this morning I forgot again. I feel robbed, I want my hour back!

Time to defrost my ground turkey for nacho time!