Or As I Like To Call Him: El Presidente
So Vicente Fox, the President of Mexico has been in Seattle over the past few days. Apparently this is the first time a Mexican President has come up here. Anyway, I don't really pay too much attention to politics in Mexico but I do find foreign leaders to be quite interesting.
Anyway, I was having quite the boring afternoon at work when I looked out my window and noticed a motorcycle cop drive by, and then another, and then another. I counted about 10 of them before I realized what was going on. I work on Airport Way, which is pretty much between Boeing Field and downtown. Everytime someone of importance, such as a foreign leader, comes to town they usually fly into Boeing field. Of course I pay attention to the news and remember that Mr Fox flew into Boeing Field the other day and was set to depart today. Anyway, there were cops blocking the street on both sides and no one was allowed down either side. Before I knew it there were a number of black SUVs driving by and I knew that inside one had to be Mr Fox. Of course I was correct as I saw him open his window and wave to the people out on the street with a big old smile on his face. I had my camera out and ready when I figured out what was going on, however all I was expecting to get was some pictures of black SUVs and cops on motorcycles. Had I known El Presidente would be hanging out the window of the SUV waving at people I would have gone outside. Oh well, here's hoping that I managed to get a picture that slightly resemble him.
Regardless, it most definitely broke up the monotony of the typical afternoon at work.
Story of My Life
I have seen
Social Distortion numerous times. I have traveled great distances to see them live. They are most definitely one of the bands on the top of my list of "favorite bands of all time". And they're coming here. I want to go see them again because they're great live and Mike Ness is awesome the way he says "motherfucker", however I just don't think I can do it. Nothing against the band, I respect them, they've been doing the same thing for many years and it's great that they're still doing what they do. I just can't justify spending over $20 in "service charges" and "convenience fees" by purchasing the tickets through TicketMaster. I feel like I should just bend over and let TicketMaster go to town, because really, that's pretty much what they're doing. A ticket that initially costs $25 (which to be honest is a bit steep to begin with) ends up costing about $36. That's over $70 for two. I think I could pretty much buy all their cds and dvds for that amount of money. Like I said, it's probably not the band exactly, I would pay the $25 for a ticket if the money went to the band/venue, but with the additional fees and whatnot, it's just not worth it. It makes me quite sad that I won't be seeing them this time around, but I just can't hand over money to TicketMaster for basically doing nothing for me. I'll give them $.39 for the stamp and $1.00 for the envelope to send the tickets to me, but how they can justify charging more than that is beyond me.
That being said, I think from now on if it comes down to TicketMaster selling tickets to a show or something that I want to see, I'll probably pass. I don't want to give them my money in such an obvious way. At least work it into the price of the ticket so I'll feel a little better. I remember when we went to see Henry Rollins it ended up costing about the price of an additional ticket in the TicketMaster fees, and I was pretty outraged about it then but paid the additional amount because I really wanted to see Rollins. I don't think I can do it anymore though, it seems like such a waste. *sigh*
UPDATE: It seems as if the whole TicketMaster thing is due to the Moore Theatre (which happens to be where we saw Rollins), because tickets to the SxDx show in Spokane are being sold through TicketsWest, who I believe only do a per transaction fee as opposed to a per ticket fee.
Oh, Fuck It I'm Gonna Have A Party
While collecting some links to send to a friend in regards to what to do in the Emerald City I came across the
Sonic Boom website. Now I've known about Sonic Boom for quite some time, but honestly have never been to one of their locations. I have no idea why, other than the fact that there isn't one in West Seattle and we do have an
Easy Street, so if ever I feel the need to purchase a CD I usually go there.
Anyway, it looks like we're going to have to go to Sonic Boom in Ballard on Saturday May 27th to see
Nada Surf doing a little in store performance. We've been totally loving their new(ish) album and were just talking about what a shame it is that we haven't had the chance to see them recently.
I even briefly contemplated going to the
Sasquatch Festival on Sunday the 28th because there are so many good artists playing, Nada Surf being one of them. But really, I am just way too lazy to drive all the way to the Gorge in George (I find it totally amusing that there is a "city" named 'George' in Washington State, it makes me laugh every time). As much as I would love to see Death Cab, Queens of the Stone Age, The Decemberists, We Are Scientists, etc I will have to settle for Nada Surf at Sonic Boom. And that's okay too.
It's Not Funny Like On Television
I've been thinking a lot about addiction lately. In a lot of ways I understand it. I think in my life I have been mildly addicted to a number of different things, but it's always been fairly easy for me to get over them. Currently my only addiction would have to be coffee, and maybe chocolate, but those are things I could give up if I wanted to relatively easily. Shawn seems to think I'm addicted to peanut butter because I eat it all the time, but like I told him, I can quit anytime I want, I just don't want to. :P
Seriously though, due to things happening in the lives of people around me lately, addiction has been one of the top things on my mind. Like I said, I understand it in a lot of ways, but at the same time there are things I just don't get about it. Like once things start going wrong because of your addiction, when your health is very clearly at risk, why is that sometimes not enough for people to realize what they're doing? I smoked cigarettes for a number of years, and seriously the first time I felt like my health was at risk because of it I would have quit. Hell, when I quit it was because the doctors thought my grandmother, who had never smoked a day in her life, had lung cancer. Turns out she didn't, but it was enough to wake me up and realize that what I was doing probably wasn't the best for my body. I know sometimes it takes a lot for people to get that "wake up call", but why does it often seem like when that time comes it's too late?
It makes me wonder why we don't treat our bodies and our lives better. I often wonder why people like to hide from their problems and cover them up with alcohol, drugs, food, sex, you name it. I suppose it's easier, but in the long run it always ends up causing more problems, both physically and mentally. Not to mention the shit it puts their families and loved ones through, both during the addiction and the recovery.
I know I have tendencies and I know that things run in my family, but I'll be damned if I let any of that ruin my life.
It all just makes me sad thinking about it.
Great Idea On Paper
So I managed to find a place that was selling
Coke Blak by the bottle instead of by the four pack. I decided that I had to try this soda/coffee concoction. I love me some coffee and soda isn't so bad either. The two together, must be phenomenal!
Yeah, not so much.
The first sip was weird, and it didn't get any better. Occasionally it would taste kind of like carbonated coffee with a weird soda aftertaste. Then next sip was kind of more like soda with a hint of coffee. Shawn likened it to drinking a carbonated
coffee candy. I honestly could barely finish the whole thing as it was making me feel rather sick to my stomach. Though I paid $2 for the tiny 8oz bottle, and please believe I was going to finish it!
I can't imagine this one is going to last.
