The Art of Listening

I think most people just don't know how to listen and really only talk. I am not sure why, or even how that happens, but it seems to be more and more true each day that I study it. For instance, I will be telling someone a story, and almost automatically, someone will interrupt me. Sometimes with something that doesn't matter, or something that has nothing to do with the conversation, or even something that will one up the situation. I can't fucking stand it sometimes.

It appears that I am the only one that really listens to everyone. But recently I have been zoning out while they are talking just to see if it even matters. The conclusion, nope. I think most people just talk to have something to say. It doesn't really matter what they are talking about. It's gotten so bad, that sometimes I will completely forget what that person had started the conversation with. It's not like they notice I'm not paying attention though. They are so caught up in their story that I think I could have walked away and they would have told the rest to the tree I was standing next too. Poor tree.

In all actuality I don't really care that much. Most of the time I have nothing to say anyway. So, the fact that I have someone next to me babbling away makes me look more normal to everyone else who is there. At the same time, that kind of sucks. I can practically hear them saying to themselves "wow, he must be pretty normal, just like us! How comforting." In which case, I would like to go over to them and puke on their shoes all while laughing about the cat that was run over in their driveway.

This is not to say that I NEVER care about what people have to say. If it is a genuine thought I will completely listen and digest the content. For all of you out there that know me, stop thinking about whether I think you're an idiot or not. This pretty much has nothing to do with you, calm down. I think my basic aggression lays towards people who didn't learn the basic skills of waiting your turn to speak, not talking with food in your mouth, and don't stick things into electrical sockets. In my eyes, these are probably the 3 most important social tips in the world.

Or, maybe I am just stating publicly that I bow down to alpha type personalities. Could very well be, but thinking about it, those types of people are really horrible and most people don't even like them to begin with. They tend to be more annoying if nothing else. I like to think I am nice medium of both Alpha and Beta. For instance, I would calmly make the decision that needs to be made, and if it doesn't happen, I'll fucking kill you. I guess that makes sense. Either way, we are now way off topic...

I think that is why I am getting very bored of the drunk scene. There are way too many drunk people running around trying to be the life of the party. It makes me sick sometimes. Other times, I could care less. I just watch and wait for them to severally hurt themselves somehow.

Then, there are the relator's. These are the type of people who know exactly what you're talking about... all the time. I could say I raped their baby on the back of a whale on my way to Ireland and they would completely understand how it felt. They have already done that, and they have been past it, and they want to make sure you feel less special because of it. These people are almost worse than the "One Uppers". I can not count how many times I've held back a "oh yea, definitely, I completely did all that and felt the same way, but that's old news asshole" speech. I feel if I take part in it, it will only get worse.

Basically when it comes right down to it, I might not have anything important to say, but make sure that when you talk to me, interrupt me, or completely change the subject, you do.

...or maybe I just wish there was someone out there that would actually listen instead of talking about nothing. I haven't decided yet. Either way, thank god for this fucking thing.

Hummer H3

The Hummer H3 is the biggest piece of crap I have ever seen. I almost think it is worse than ever model before it. The only reason I even bring this up, is because I saw one on my ride home tonight on the highway. I thought the damn thing was going to tip over! I guess it didn't help that there was some jerk driving it, but still, they have made that car so skinny that there is no point in even driving one off road (ya know, the original reason the Hummer was created).

From what I understand, from talking with mechanics, is the commercial Hummer is quite literally, a Suburban frame with Hummer body slapped on top of it. Well what the hell then people?! Just buy a brand new Suburban for 1/4 of the price!

Realistically, no one should be buying an SUV anyway. It's you people that are making all the rest of pay more at the gas pump. You might bitch about paying $200 and up to fill up your fossil fuel guzzlers, but, it's your own damn fault that prices are that high to begin with. So, suck it. If everyone who owned an SUV for the past 10 years, owned a little Honda instead, gas prices might not be as high as they are right now. I would probably even feel safe saying that gas prices would be around $2.49 a gallon right now if the commercial SUV was never invented.

Well, thanks for ruining the world SUV owners. I hope you crash your brand new Hummer into an orphan crossing the road blindly and you end up in jail for 15 years on man slaughter.

Day 5 of J.G.F.U.W.

On Tuesday - 05/27/2008

This day was not so much fun. I'm pretty sure we woke up at the C.G.I. and actually left pretty early. Nick had to work or something so we had to hit his house by 11 or something. I was not feeling well at all, so I laid down in his room, on the floor, for a bit. I had started to feel a little better but then it started to rain and the windows on my car were rolled down slightly. Obviously, I had to close them or the inside was going to get all wet.

I got up and started towards my car. Half way there, I started to feel bad again. When I feel sick, I kind of get extremely anti-social and kind of paranoid for some reason. So, after I rolled up the windows I felt weird trying to go back to his room while he was away at work. I also hate driving when I feel sick, so I was in quite the situation.

I decided that I had to drive somewhere, but I really didn't have a destination or anything. I had called Shebus hoping to meet up with her, but she was at work as well. She did say that she was going to get out soon though, and to meet her at her house when she called me back. I figured that was ok, so I started to head towards her area. On the way, I started to feel worse and worse. I thought I was dieing.

**Side Note** On day 4 I thought it was an awesome idea to burn the shit out of my arm with some cigarettes. They had gotten pretty infected by the time this day started, and I was kind of freaking out about it. Alright, back to the story.

I got about half way to her house, when all the sudden both of my legs fell asleep. I actually stated to lose control of them completely. I started freaking out about it. In my head I was making emergency plans of action if it got worse. Sure enough, it did. Both my arms then fell asleep and I was starting to lose control of them as well. So, I couldn't control the gas and brakes well, and I was having a problem steering. I thought I was having a heart attack. I also started to think that maybe the burns on my arm were so infected that they were effecting my circulation. It actually kind of felt like the blood in my body had stopped pumping.

I finally made it to Shebus's house and somehow made it in the door. I busted in the door and tried to scream "call 911!". After that I had lost the feeling in my face and couldn't even control my lips anymore. Then, I pretty much spent 5 or 10 minutes on the kitchen floor trying to explain to my mother what the hell was going on.

She ended up bringing me to the hospital. I had started feeling better by the time we got there. So, I was debating going inside or not. But, I figured that they would at least tell me what the hell had happened. But, as soon I got in there, they saw all the burns, and thought I was crazy. So, they kept me for a couple hours to evaluate me. They actually sat me in the middle of the hall, where all the cameras could see me, and sat a huge security guard with me. It was pretty embarrassing. The 3 most common questions asked to me that day were "do you want to hurt yourself?", "do you want to hurt others?", and "do you want to make others hurt themselves?".

Anyway, they finally ended up just treating my burns and letting me go after some good old fashion pretending to be normal (score one for me, suckers). They told me that I had just suffered from hyperventilation. That means that I got to much oxygen in my system and my body started to shut down, basically. They didn't give me anything for it though, they just told me how to stop it from happening again. Which was fine, I don't really want to be on any meds.

After that, mom brought me back to her house where I hung out with Shebus and her man for a bit. Then Nick ST had his sister bring him to my moms house, to drive my car for me. I was kind of scared that is was going to happen again, so I did not want to drive it.

By the time Nick came to get me, I had started feeling much better. So, I decided to go out with them to a bar called Deja. It was kind of boring though. I do not think I will go back there again. Maybe I was just not feeling 100% better, and it was killing my mood, but, it was a pretty laid back. It was fun to watch Matty, Computer Girl, Metal Lady, Nick and the rest of them do karaoke though.

Day 4 of J.G.F.U.W.

On Monday - 05/26/2008

This day started out pretty normal. I think we woke up at Computer Girls house, or the C.G.I. as we now call it, and we had planned on going to the beach. I am not one for the beach in general, but they said there was a bar there, so I was down. I was probably not even going to really go on the beach itself. I was probably just going to relax with a couple cocktails in the bar.

We drove forever, drinking beers (not the driver), hoping for a nice relaxing day. When we finally got there, there was NO parking anywhere and tow trucks were all over the place. After driving around for 30 minutes looking for parking, we decided to screw that plan and go to Harbor Park in Middletown, CT. Of course now that we had driven all the way down to Essex or something like that, it was quite the hall to get back to Middletown. I guess it wasn't sooo bad though.

We get to Harbor Park and began relaxing on their patio. To be honest, I was pretty drunk by the time we got there, but it was all good. Realistically, I think I pissed a lot of people off by being there. First off, there was the whole "making people believe I was gay" thing. I really have no idea why I think it's funny, but I think it's hysterical. There was a point where I was "hitting" on Matty for a while, and it was completely pissing Metal Lady off... a lot. I have already apologized to her, but... I'M SORRY METAL LADY! I'm an idiot, I know. After that, me and Scat thought it would be a great idea to try and mess with a bunch of body builders on their boat. We called them gay, then said we were gay, and then said that we would teach them how to be gay, haha. That was actually really funny, but, we should have gotten our asses kicked. Then, I got in a little trouble with our friend Jay. I don't quite remember the situation, but I was told that I hit him in the balls (as a hello or something) so he got pretty pissed and pushed me into a crowd of people. From there, I think it was basically a yell off, with me just kinda yelling and him just standing there waiting for me to throw the first punch. Nothing happened though. Either way, sorry about that Jay...

After we are done at Harbor Park, we leave to go.... somewhere. OH, that's right, we left because someone had went missing, then we needed to pick them up, and then we went back to Computer Girls house.

At Computer Girls house we played some card games and what not. At some point, Q the Muse and Totten (no idea if I spelled that right) were jokingly making fun of Swiss people. So, I decided to jokingly get angry. I stood up, and smacked Totten in the face pretty hard and grilled them both about it. I kind of feel bad about that Totten. If you're upset about it, I apologize. I really need to stop fooling around like that... seriously.

Then..... I think we went to bed.

Day 3 of J.G.F.U.W.

On Sunday - 05/25/2008

The morning of this day is quite the blur. I have no idea where I woke up, or who I woke up with, but, I know it happened... sadly. From what I can gather, we probably woke up at Computer Girls house since she was nice enough to let us stay there for J.G.F.U.W.

From what I do remember, we took her truck to go get groceries from Stop and Shop in Middletown, CT. I think there is some video around here somewhere of Nick ST riding one of the shopping carts around the parking lot. I will have to post that at some point, haha. Anyway, from there, I think this is the crew we were rolling with; Me, Nick ST, Scat, and Johanna. For some reason I am thinking Q was with us as well, but I might be making that up... OH, we had Greg and.... shit, I forgot her name... Izzy is what I think people were calling her?? Sounds right. Anyway, so they followed us to Kelly Cupcakes house.

Kelly's parents were gone for some mysterious reason and she had invited us over to drink some beers, eat some food, and burn some shit. Who would ever refuse that?! The only thing that kind of sucked was that it was really far away. I can't remember the name of her town, but it is no where near us by any means. In fact, I guess that puts a good perspective on how far she goes to come hang with us, haha.

When we got there, it was pretty chill. We were just listening to music while the women got the food ready. Nick volunteered to cook the food on the charcoal grill for us. It seemed like a great idea to have him do it at the time, but he is not a cook... He was setting fire to everything! haha, oh well I guess.

After the food was all cooked up and eaten, we decided to hit up the huge bonfire. Oh, I forgot to mention that the other Greg, Biker Greg, showed up with his woman (can't remember her name), aaaaand I think some other people showed up, but I can't remember their names. I know Kelly's friends name was Dean and he was pretty cool. But anyway, we all hung out by the bonfire, did some push up shots, and bro'ed it up. I was told that I ended up passing out on the ground, and then dragged back to the car when it was time to leave, so, I am not the right person to ask about what happened after that....

Does anyone remember???

Day 2 of J.G.F.U.W.

On Saturday - 05/24/2008

This day, we woke up at Computer Girls house, and did..... something. I don't really remember waking up there, but I saw some video of me and Star sleeping on the couch which I think is from this day.... Anyone got a little help on this??

Anyway, I believe that the annual Memorial Day party at the CLH in Middletown was this day. Obviously, it's not something you miss. It's usually just that awesome. So, we decided to go. It was pretty awesome when we showed up. There weren't TOO many people at that point, but enough to have fun. Basically, we just mingled for a bit while we waited for more of the day time to pass.

After the sun started going down, me and Star played some guitar hero. EVERYONE kicked my ass at Guitar hero that day. I couldn't catch a break! But, I was pretty fucking drunk, so I will let it go for now. Pete, I wanna rematch buddy. Sooooo, let's see here. Hmm, things start to get kind of hazy for a little bit after that, so the rest of this might come out in random babbles...

There was... OH. Jenni decided it would be funny to get her brother mad at me. That was interesting to deal with. Then, Pat and his crew showed up... I think I played a lot more guitar hero and drank many more beers than I should have.... then I had to yell at Scat, because he was doing something that he would probably get in trouble for if I said anything (you owe me you bastard, haha). Who knows, maybe if you (or the person you were doing it with) piss me off I will hold that against you both ;) Naw, prolly not. Anyway...

I do remember Nick, Scat, and Computer Girl leaving for a bit to go to a different party, I think in Newington, CT. Me and Star stayed at the CLH, but later on wished we had gone to the other party. Yea, that sounds about right.

So, they finally got back to the CLH after the other party, which I think was probably just in time. Something happened between Pat, his woman, and the CLH crew to where no one liked anyone anymore. So, I had to go outside with Pat and them and talk him out of stabbing everyone at the party (you crazy bastard, haha). Then, while they were leaving, they burned up the pavement pretty bad and left a cloud of smoke all around the CLH. Needless to say, the CLH crew was not very happy.

Basically, we went to CLH, pissed everyone off, and then left to go back to...... Computer Girls house?? I am not completely sure. I hope you guys remember a lot more than I do about this day.

...oh, and there was beer pong, but I did not play... ready for day 3??

Day 1 of J.G.F.U.W.

On Friday - 05/23/2008

This day was not TOO crazy, because I had to start the day off with a healthy day of work. I was afraid I was going to miss this day because of a photo shoot I was supposed to be at, but Mike (a guy I work with) covered for me which was very nice of him to do.

Anyway, I left work and headed to somewhere (can't remember). I think it was Nicks house or Stars house. Hmmm, this should be the easiest day to remember... Regardless, the point in fact is that the holiday does not begin until the first beer touches my lips. Then, after that, I have to keep drinking until the holiday is over (which is on Tuesday night).

So, after meeting up with Nick and Star, we went to Computer Girls house. There, we waited for everyone else to show up (MarQ, Chris, Kelly, Scot, I think that's it). After everyone showed up, we started the celebration! With a valiant toast to the chaos about to begin, beer touched my lips, and BOOM! We were ready to get things started.

Our first order of business was going to a party that MarQ had been talking about. We figured since MarQ knew everyone there, that it would be ok if we all went. After a long drive, we finally got there. Of course, no trip is complete without getting lost, which was handled very nicely. I believe Star actually got us back on track at some point. Nice work Star!

We get to the party, and everyone there is pretty slammed already. I think everyone knows what it's like to be at a party where everyone but you is drunk. It SUCKS! But anyway, we kind of stand around, and talk to each other, but the party is just seeming gayer and gayer. Scot was doing an amazing job fitting in though. He was talking to all the gangster kids like they were brothers of his, haha. It was kind of funny to watch.

So, after deciding that we didn't want to be there anymore, we went back to Computer Girls house. I am pretty sure we just hung out and played drinking games, but I could be wrong. This is where I kind of lose track of what is going during J.G.F.U.W. but let's hope everyone else can fill us in on the events...

As you can see, this day was not so exciting. But, have no fear! All the other days are crazy as fuck. You'll see.

If you remember anything I left out from this day, feel free to comment :)