Albro the Wonder Llama's Blog
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It’s Springtime...
Current mood:
…Want Some Dick?
amorous
Several years ago, there was an HBO Comedy Standup special featuring Chris Rock. According to what I've read and heard – Mr. Rock and I are pretty similar as far as our onstage/offstage personalities are concerned.
We're both somewhat quiet and introverted offstage but loud & extroverted onstage.
Obviously, this is where the similarities end – I'm neither black nor good looking…moving on.
In this particular standup, Chris expounded on the fact that most every man, sometime after puberty, wants to have sex with just about every woman he finds attractive.
Sometimes we're very blatant in our desire but usually it comes in the form of trying to help said woman. Like so:
I can help you move that. (Want some dick?)
I like romantic comedies too. (Want some dick?)
Sure I can help out with your rent this month. (Want some dick?)
Missing you terribly. (Want some dick?)
Be well yo. (Want some dick?)
And the list goes on and on.
Women, I'm sure, are conscious of this on one level or another. And no doubt they use it to their advantage every now and again. And who could blame them because as Mr. Rock also says – most every woman, since she was a 12 or 13-year-old girl has been hit on in one way or another.
I say all of this because I'm aware of this aspect of my "Male-ness." But I'm also aware that this trait means I'm going to be a horny idiot for far too much of the time.
And as I was telling someone at a show just last night, I'm fortunate that I have the drums to take out most of my frustrations on. As for the rest, I just take it one day at a time.
So to all of my female friends, perhaps this will shed some light as to why I act the way I do sometimes. (Oh, want some dick?) -
Amsterdam
Current mood:
It’s March 11th & I’m about to travel to Europe for the first time.
calm
But not just any part of Europe, Amsterdam. The city of tolerance, hope and a bevy of beautiful women riding around on bicycles...But I digress.
(unfortunately, I didn’t entangle myself in anything romantic while in Amsterdam but I didn’t go see the Red Light District either)
First things first - flying out of the Greenville/Spartanburg airport was one of the easiest boarding processes I’ve gone through since I flew with the Oklahoma State basketball team. Detroit wasn’t terrible but going through customs on the way back and the SNAFU we had with our departure to Amsterdam killed any hope I had in flying getting any easier.
The flight wasn’t too bad. After flying to and from Japan, just about anything seems easy. That and the fact that I had gotten up so early before our flight allowed me to actually sleep on the plane a bit. I highly recommend this because if you land in the morning like we did, it helps to be able to push on through the day and get on a semi-normal schedule.
We got from the airport via train to Centraal Station and then cabbed it to our lodging for the trip. The apartments we stayed were pretty pimp. The only detractor was the stairs up to them...Particularly to apartment 3 where I was. But the view out of our windows was awesome. The kitchen was quite big with a nice big table for feasting and a pimp little Smeg refrigerator.
A little note about the food in Amsterdam - you really can’t go wrong no matter how you go. Whether it’s buying groceries or eating out, it’s all quite fresh and quite good. (Although you might want to brush up a little bit on your dutch names of food)
And unless you buy some tram tickets or have enough money to cab it wherever you wish to go, get ready to do some walking. But don’t worry, Amsterdam is a beautiful city with lots of history, lots to do, lots to see & most anything you want or need is probably just a few blocks away.
One of the first places we went to after arriving at the apartment was to Barney’s - one of the many reputable coffee houses that also sells marijuana. Even I have to admit hat it was pretty cool to just walk in and get what you want. I also learned of "space cakes" which is what the coffee houses call ganja food. I only had one space cake while I was over there but it helped me sleep and that made me happy.
I also had a Belgian beer whilst over there that I enjoyed as well. But none of this means I’m giving up my fairly straight edge ways. I like being the way I am for the most part & don’t intend to change my ways too much.
Having said that, it was very refreshing to be in a country that didn’t frown upon marijuana use. If anything, the city of Amsterdam was more concerned with hard drugs which was nice to see.
The reasons I didn’t go to the Red Light District were many but the main one was that I didn’t feel like wasting money on sex. Sex should be fun and joyous (and dirty, why not) and it should be between people that want to have it and if money is involved, it’s because someone bought dinner or diamonds, not paid directly to someone for "services rendered."
And the new conservative government in Amsterdam was trying to clean up the city a bit much and the Red Light District was apparently one of the first places in the city to feel the conservative sting. Leave it to the government to take the fun out of everything.
I spent the few days we had before our performances walking around & taking in some of the city’s culture like the Rijksmuseum & the Van Gogh Museum. It’s one thing to see a photo or a slide of Rembrandt or Van Gogh but it’s a totally different to stand there a few inches away from one of their works and be able to actually see brushstrokes. Seeing Rembrandt’s "Night Watch" in person was very impressive not to mention the Vermeer, Manet, Monet, Gauguin & Toulouse Latrec paintings I saw amongst the two museums.
I bought a few CD’s whilst roaming around De Bijenkorf, a well known department store just off of Dam Square. There are tons of places to shop all around Amsterdam not to mention all of the restaurants, coffee shops, cheese shops ETC. The only problem with the city is that you probably won’t have enough time or money to really experience everything that you’ll want to.
After a few days of roaming the city, it was time to work. The three days of music was definitely a highlight of the trip for me, because after experiencing some of the glory that Amsterdam has to offer, it was only fitting to give a little of that jubilation back through music. Thus the three nights went well over all. The only snags we ran into were that one stage had to accommodate three bands with three different stage plots. It’s always a little bit of a nightmare when you have to do quick build-ups & tear downs of your gear. Fortunately, the drumset and a few other pieces of gear were backlined and didn’t have to be torn down too much, just moved here and there. By the third day, the bands and the crews had it down pretty well...just in time for our portion of the festival to be over.
I was able to catch a little bit of Darkstar, Umphrey’s and The Biscuits. The room they played in was awesome and what I saw of each band was pretty good. I won’t ever call myself a Grateful Dead fan so many of the nuances and inflections that DSO is able to pull off are lost on me. But after having met some of the members of DSO, I know they’re a top notch band with good people in their organization. The same is true for UM & DB as well. I hope we’re able to get to their level because they definitely have it all working pretty well for themselves.
We had one more day off after we were done playing. I spent it roaming around some more and buying some souvenirs for family & loved ones. I was amazed at the level of fiscal restraint I had whilst over there but with the dollar being so weak the entire time we were in Amsterdam, it seemed prudent.
Flying back wasn’t too bad, but it was (without a doubt) the longest Thursday I have ever experienced in my life...literally. I guess traveling with the sun will do that to you.
Now it’s March 23rd and I’m back in Athens for at least one more day before we start touring again. Life never quite stops.
Tot volgende tijd (That’s Dutch for "Until next time") -
Self Deprecation
Current mood:
Hindsight being the great equalizer that it is, the picture of myself labeled as me "trying to be dead sexy and failing" may or may not come off as self deprecating as I wanted.
adventurous
In reality, it comes off as "Hey, look at how ugly I am even though I'm trying Not to look ugly..."
In reality, it looks a tad creepy.
Oh well, this IS Myspace, land of the creeps, peeps and sneeps.
And now back to whatever kind of day you're having.