CSz Kickball & Injury

CSz played kickball instead of rehearsing on a Tuesday night. It was a lot of fun. I was on the Blue team and we ended up killing the Red team. I got on base twice and scored both times. I also jammed my ring and pinkie fingers on the ball during the 2nd inning. It wasn't even during a play, it was during the changeover. We took the field and threw the ball around to keep ourselves warmed up. Ryder threw it to me, I let it bounce and then it jammed my fingers. It hurt a lot.

Afterward we hung out at Carol's Pub and I did a good job of talking to people and not bailing on the hangout fun.

Once I got home I immediately iced my hand though it was pretty swollen at this point. By Saturday the swelling hadn't gone down enough to my liking so I had it checked out at the Hand Surgery Specialty Doctor. HSSD had it x-rayed. It's just a jammed finger, right? I've jammed my fingers in basketball during middle school before. This is just like that, right?

Well, guess what? I found out today it was a small fracture of the pinky finger. Another broken bone!? God damn what's wrong with my bones?!

So I get to wear this bad boy (see picture above) for 6 weeks. Life is great.

Food Poisoning & Weekend with Family

I got food poisoning the night before I traveled to Minneapolis for my other grandpa's 80th birthday party. It was awful.

I went to a ribs restaurant after Shock Corridor rehearsal and the dinner was great. But then I got home and soon after I felt a great pain in my stomach. Cut to 15 minutes later and I'm holding onto the toilet bowl for dear life as my stomach contents tumble out. I had the shakes, I was sweating, it was really bad. After the worst of it was over, I cleaned myself up and then went to bed. I had to get some sleep before catching my plane the next day.

I wake up at 4am. Something's wrong. I go to the bathroom and discover that my body has decided to get rid of the rest of its contents but this time using the opposite end of the gastrointestinal tract. If it wasn't clear to me during the puking it became crystal clear now, sitting atop the toilet, that I had food poisoning.

This made my trip to my Grandpa's 80 birthday party just about the worst trip I've been on this year. I had no appetite and my whole body felt really weak and frail. My first night in Minneapolis I could have spent it hanging out with my sister, her boyfriend, my cousin, and her boyfriend, but I was still too sickly feeling to go out. The next day was my grandpa's (Grandpa K.) 80's birthday party. It was good to see a lot of my relatives and we out an about. But I still was pretty weak and had to take it easy during the party.

Happy birthday, Grandpa K!

Loilla 2009 Day 3

Lolla Day 3 notes:

Yuto Miyazawa - 9yr old Japanese kid guitar god. Shredded his flying V guitar like a pro. Guinness Book of World Record youngest professional guitarist. Played cover songs and sang the lyrics too, in his high pitched, 9yr old voice. Very cute.
Care Bears on Fire - Three girls from Brooklyn, 13, 14, and 15, play punk songs of their own creation. Good musicians, but beyond their gimmick, they are an average band. But there is definite potential there. Perhaps they will grow as song writers and go the route of The Donnas and become a great band.
Food - lines still short. The Lolla organizers really got this down pat.
Carney - so hot out today. So-so band except for the last song, which is great.
Ra Ra Riot - again, so hot out. Using umbrella as a shade. Average band.
Bat for Lashes - "it's SO HOT!" Good stuff, maybe appreciate it more perhaps in a better setting.


The Greencards - Bluegrass in the shade. From Australia. Nice people it seems.

Met up with others; food
Kaiser Chiefs - bored with them.
Free water!! - so needed and great to have. Temps in the 90s and in the sun it feels a lot hotter. Again, hat off to the organizers for the decision to give out free water.
The Raveonettes - good music to have in the background while you are cleaning or sitting outside on a porch with friends.
Neko Case - just okay.


Passion Pit - super crowded; crowd looked to be having an awesome time. Liked their sound. Need to listen to more of their stuff. Cool breeze happened at the end - so nice.

Snoop Dog - entertaining the white people.
Band of Horses - 20 minutes late due to Lou Reed. Audience into it.
The Killers - those that knew them said they started slow and then ramped it up so by the end it was a great show. I knew 3 songs and they sounded pretty great. The rest of the stuff I'm not really a fan.

Like most Sundays of Lolla, it was the weakest of the days music-wise. Overall this year's Lolla was better than last year's. I ended up at this year's festival for 31.5 out of the 33 hours of the festival, which I find amazing. I didn't plan on being to most of it but that's how it played out this year.

Hopefully next year's lineup will be even better.

Lolla 2009 Day 2

Lolla day 2 notes:


I got in line early; before it opened. Finally opened at 11:07am


Band of Skulls - Blew me away! - just might be my favorite new band. Rockin' set; ended 7 min early. (not enough songs?) So much fun.


Ezra Furman & the Harpoons - good stuff; hilariously awkward talking to the audience between songs. Pretty hot already.

Walked around looking at stuff:

• Honda Eco Zone - car stuff
• Green Street - environmental stuff
• Hammock Haven - resting place

Miike Snow - came on with weird white masks; took them off 1-2 songs later. Not quite into them.


Food - lobster corndog from Graham Elliot booth. Sooooooo good.


Ida Maria - Pretty good. Probably would be have been better had I known the songs first. Wonderful showman, front woman.

Chairlift - probably would dig their stuff, but just like Fleet Foxes, wasn't quite in the mood. A little too low energy/quiet stuff for an outdoor concert.
Arctic Monkeys - didn't care for them. Took a nap.


Santigold - Started 10 minutes late, but made up for it with awesome show. Really great songs. Backup singers/dancers were incredible.

More food
Heard last song of TV on the Radio's set, which was the only song I really know. So perfect timing.


Yeah Yeah Yeahs - A-ma-zing show.
I've seen them 3-4 times before and this one was by far the best show. So awesome. Great spot, could see over everyone's head.

Got a little dehydrated at the end. Got a little sunburned. Pretty darn exhausted. But what a great day. Definitely best day out of the festival this year. Possibly the best day out of the 4 years I've been going to Lolla. Day 1 of Lolla 2007 comes pretty close [The Rapture & Daft Punk]. (Don't worry 2007, you're still my favorite Lolla overall so far) I also biked down this day so I biked back and was covered in sweat when I got home. Ridiculously exhausted at this point.

Will I be able to wake up early enough for Day 3?

Lolla 2009 Day 1

Lolla day 1 notes:

Got to the gates around 12:30pm and met up with Marla. It just started raining at 11am and was pretty steady by the time I arrived at Grant Park. I had an umbrella so we were fine.


Zap Mama no show; but ran into Natalie and her friends Ali & Camelia. Decided to all be concert buddies for the rest of Lollapalooza. We all went to UF, too.


The Builders & the Butchers - pretty great. Loved the two dudes on drums at once, side by side.

The Gaslight Anthem - didn't care for them.
Heartless Bastards - sounded good but wasn't really listening because we were talking to people who just joined us.
Kidzapalooza - rumor that Leann Rhimes was there. Went there, didn't see her, left. Found out about an hour later that she indeed eventually showed up.


Ben Folds - good show but I guess it was mostly new stuff. I didn't know much of it but those that did seemed to be having a great time.

Fleet Foxes - their harmonies were sort of lulling me to sleep. I'm sure I'll like their stuff but I was not in the right mood for their sound.


The Decemberists - great show. Will get their new album. Loved the song with five drum kits being played at once on stage. Rain finally stopped just after their show.

Food - super short lines for most of the day.
Of Montreal - didn't really listen to them - looking for bathrooms and more food.
Depeche Mode - boring show. Knew only a couple songs and the rest were boresville. Very little talking to the audience. Kind of just going through the paces.

So I stayed until the end and wandered around Michigan Ave trying to find a bus that would take me close to home. A very long and damp first day but good. Not great, but good. Average I'd say.

Parents on Facebook

My mom joined Facebook.




AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Exercise

I was able to do sit ups on a hard floor yesterday!

My lower back is still sore but much more milder. I also did crunches and push-ups. Not only that, but I felt the need for a short run so I ran around the block after work! And did yoga stretches! High five self!

Note about my gut: I do have a bit of flab around my midsection. This is a fact. Is it that noticeable? No. Is it that bad compared to others? No. I agree that I'm fortunate and over-all I'm still a thin guy. But when I tell people that I'm trying to get in shape, trying to tone up, trying to get healthier, and mention my wish to trim my gut, they laugh at my gut complaint. I get what they are saying, but it also feels like they're laughing off my attempt to get healthier. Sometimes your friends are your biggest obstacle for change.

It's August Already

I'm kind of amazed it's August already. Seems like the summer went by so fast. Considering we've only had 2 days this summer where the temperature was 90 or above; it's been a relatively cooler summer. Probably the coldest summer since I've been living in Chicago.

~~~

My back is slowly getting better. But it's still sore in the lower back and it really pains me to try to do a sit up on a hardwood floor. I can do crunches, though, so at least I'm getting some exercise. But trying to sit up farther than a crunch position causes my lower back muscles to be employed and it just hurts too much. It's like those muscles are baby muscles - too weak and feeble to do the work. I should probably get it checked out by a doctor but my faith in my current doctor isn't that strong.