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Wednesday, August 29th, 2007
10:05 pm	Many Weeks - A Venting Post Time to return here when stuff is just piling up and I need to get it out of my head in order to sleep. I just looked at the last post that I made here. It was right after the trip I took to work for FIP in Florida. Just a couple of weeks ago I returned from my second trip to Florida. I have also moved into a new apartment that is quite nice and roomy. I actually signed up for cable and have been enjoying that. Almost three years without it. Really not that hard to do. But where am I right now? I still remain at the job at the insurance company. I have been dealing with a bit of a crisis there in the last few weeks. A personal crisis really. There has been a part of me that has been dealing with that general acceptance of where I am in my life. The years of job hopping in hopes of finding that thing that I can do on a day to day basis in the, I suppose you could say, traditional world. I have said many times before that I have found my job, and I do it on the weekends. But there was sort of a sad realization to me that I am really in no position to be bouncing around trying to find that other job that can satisfy me on an emotional level during my 9-5 time. No really because of any lack of desire, but more of a financial necessity. I always have so many ideas about what I would like to be doing. Writing, reffing, something creative. But when I try and put those plans into action sometimes I falter and seem to come upon stumbling blocks that do just that. So I remain in a position that I can do, but at the same time, I feel no connection to. Unlike most other jobs there is no sense of dread in my going there. I can deal with that. I am just completely indifferent. There are the usual worries about my personal life. I look at the activities I am involved in and determine what they require of me. Long trips, lots of weekends unavailable. Not the easiest thing to explain to people. I have experienced that feeling that a lot of people in wrestling do. When I got in I made this my life, hell a big part of it was as a coping mechanism as I still dealt with the break up with Libby. It gave me a focus and something to do. But it was a seperation defense as well and I knew this. As a result of trying to be as busy as possible I was unavailable to others. Friends I had come here with and made here went very quickly by the wayside. I was always just too busy, or I was somewhere too far away, or I was too tired after getting back from somewhere far away. It really starts to be noticable when the invites for things start slowing. You hear about the things that people have been up to, things that you could have been a part of had you not been running all over the state. I by no means am putting any blame on any of these people. Like I said this was a concious decision I made and I said to myself that I was going to have to live this way. Deb not too long ago reminded me that I would need to make a concious decision to re-enter those people's lives. And while not the case, it feels very hard to do when you have made yourself an acquaintence. And flat out, I miss that other person in my life. There are only so many times that you are able to relay your fears to parents and friends, before you begin to hate the sound of your same whining. Hey everyone's entitled to their gripes. I have just been listening to my own for about three years now on this subject. And it's during those times that I think back and miss things. And wonder if I have made mistakes in others. Nothing new and uncommon in anyone's experience. We have all been there. I just miss being excited to tell someone a story. But life is not all gripes for me right now. I have returned to Capoeira. It feels so good. Going to class at least three to four times a week, and right now, just flat out sweating my balls off. Really, even when I was training for wrestling, and I was really out of shape then, I never was able to achieve this kind of all over sweat. That kind of sweat that feels like it is cleaning you out. The people here are very different from when I was taking Capoeira before. I am at a new school and the Profesore is really trying to build something with this group. It feels nice to get in on the ground floor and feel like you are contributing to something. This has been the newest thing in life for me. Really a place away from life. Time to just forget the world and swing. I have hurt myself there and it's different than other times. I feel annoyed with my hurt and not afraid. It prevents me from trying with everything that I have. I hurt my knee and there is a lot of crouching in Capoeira. I think I need to end my flood here. Venting lots of pent up stuff. I feel a bit better. And now I need some sleep. Current Music: Iron & Wine (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 28th, 2007
6:28 pm	Approx. 2500 Miles I participated in a borderline insane act this past weekend. Thursday morning, at 6am I joined Danny Daniels, Trik Davis, Tyler Black and Marek Brave in my car, to drive from Chicago to Florida to work two shows for Full Impact Pro Wresting. The first show was to take place in Inverness, Florida. About an hour and a half north of Tampa. The second was to take place in Melbourne, Florida, about 2 and a half hours from Inverness and all the way on the other side of the state. The trip down was long. But on the way was a pleasent stop. I jokingly suggested that we should stop in Atlanta and eat at Abdullah the Butcher's House of Ribs and Chinese food. To my surprise the folks in the car thought that would be a great idea and after some assistance from Jesse and my new Sidekick phone, we got the directions. We arrived there at about 8:30 Atlanta time and sat down to eat. This was some damn fine food. A+ marks for the ribs and BBQ chicken from Danny and Tyler. I went for some of the Chinese fare, ordering Chicken Lo Mein. What I got was damn good tasting and the most insane amount of food I have ever gotten for $6. If the total weight of the styrofoam container was less than 3 pounds I would be stunned. The place was cool. Filled with lots of pictures from Abdullah's career, plus photo's of other wrestlers that have been there. There was even a photo of Mama and Papa Butcher. The centerpiece to it all though was a great painted portrait of the man himself in a three piece suit hung above the window where the food was served. We were tol that Abby was on his way to pick up some food, but we needed to keep on driving so we were unable to stick around. The drive continued. On the way down we were not sure if we were going to get a hotel or just drive right through. So we made a phone call to one Egotistico Fantastico and a space on his floor was offered. So after leaving Danny Daniels house at 7:30am. We arrived at the apartment of Egotistico Fantastico in Tampa, Florida at 5am. We quickly settled down to sleep on his floor that felt like it was made of marshmellows after being in a car for so long. I curled up under a Member's Only jacket and fell quickly asleep. The next morning I was awoken to the sounds of Guitar Hero and the cackles of Tyler Black and Marek Brave. As we were driving to Tampa the night before, challenges were laid down by Ego and the Black and Brave for a Guitar Hero duel. So, the Black and the Brave got started early while Ego was out training. By destroying every single one of his high scores. And this was no ordinary beating of high scores. This was an out and out SLAUGHTER. Those kids are good. We then ran off to meet with Mr. Ego at a local Golden Corral. There we met a few of the other folks that are connected with the WWE developmental program. All very nice folks. Meals were eaten, then we took Rob home to see the damage done to his scores. He was near tears. Then off to the venue for the first night of action. On the way we learned that Danny would be in a three way match, Trik would take on Jimmy Rave and the Black and the Brave would take on the Briscoes in singles matches. Overall the night went well, with the exception of the ring breaking. During a couple of the matches you could hear beams falling off the underside of the ring. Not a good thing. But the show went on. I got to ref three matches this night. Steve Madison v. Jerelle Clark, The YRR (Chasn Rance, Sal Rinaro, and Kenny King) v. The Heartbreak Express and X-Pac, and then Eric Stevens v. Delirious for the Florida Heritage Title. Good times over all. After that we were told that there was a hotel for us. We wandered off to eat some food at a local Applebee's and then crashed. Marek Brave was super nice and took the floor. Saturday started off great. We rose and took off for Melbourne with one mission in mind. We needed to go to the beach. So 2 and a half hours later we arrived in Melbourne. After some wandering and finally asking for directions, we indeed found a beach. I did not partake in the water, as I neglected to bring a suit and I only had one pair of shorts. But Danny, Marek and Tyler did make the plunge and it was a good time. Driving around in Florida and being at the beach was cool. It reminded me of home and made me miss it a little bit. Sunny weather and palm trees are cool things. We went and found the venue. A community center in a not so great neighbourhood, but that is nothing new in wrestling. Trik Davis was sadly not feeling his best and was unable to participate on the show on Saturday. But Danny Daniels took on Eric Stevens and The Black and the Brave took on the Briscoes. I also reffed once again. This time, Damian Wayne v. Jerelle Clark, then I was a second ref on the floor for a rematch of YRR and The Heartbreak Express/Steve Madison. Then I reffed a match between Jimmy Rave and Roderick Strong for the FIP Title. There was almost a travesty of justice here as that darn Jimmy Rave pulled me into an oncoming Roderick Strong Yakuza kick. that knocked me loopy and when I got my bearings I counted the pin on Roderick and Jimmy Rave was the new FIP champion. But then who should come out but Delerious, who just the night before was fired from DP Associates. Though a little foggy, I was able to determine that something wasn't quite right and after checking Mr. Rave, I found a chain in his tights. I ordered the match to be restarted and Roderick pinned him in short order to retain his FIP title. Then came a very scary moment. After splitting their singles matches the night before, The Black and the Brave took on the Briscoes in a tag team match. During an attempt at a reverse hurricanrana, Marek Brave came down very awkwardly on his head and neck. He was able to get up and tag out to his partner. But it became clear that something was wrong. I ran out to help check on Marek and the match ended in very short order. Marek was ok there. He was able to move his extremities, but there was a very disturbing lump in his back and an ambulance was called. We all gathered his things and waited as the paramedics put him on a back board and in a neck collar. Then as we go to make our way out to the car to pack are stuff up we get told by some fans not to go outside. There was a gun fight going on. Good lord. The police arrived and we got into the car and followed the ambulance to the hospital. Then we played the waiting game. Little side note. When we got to the emergency room, there was a car sitting outside the door. I thought nothing of it at the time. Then later when going out to my car, it was sectioned off with polcie tape. It wa then that I noted the trails of blood on the ground. Apparently, this car brought one of the shooting victims to the hospital and they arrived right before us. Marek was given x-rays and a CAT scan and in the end it was determined that he has suffered only a severe back sprain and was discharged. Through all of this, the promoters and staff of FIP were extremely helpful and they should be thanked for a job well done. So while Marek was being discharged we had to decide what to do. There was no way he could sit in a car for over 20 hours to get back to Iowa. So we drove him to Orlando and were eable to put him on a flight back to Moline. Then Danny, Tyler, Trik and myself began the trek back home. We made awesome time, leaving Orlando at 5:30am and I got back to my apartment by midnight. It was a long ass trip but a very successful one. And hopefully one I will be able to do again soon. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 30th, 2007
10:13 am	My First Match April 28th 2007. It was quite a day. The day I made my "wrestling" debut in the ring. The wrestling deserves to be in quotes because I did nothing that the vast majority of guys that I referee did. My match was designed for comedy and done strictly as that. It all began in January. After finally turning my cell phone on again after being at home in Bermuda for a week for Christmas, I was going through the messages that I had. One of them was from my dear friend Joey Eastman. He had been contacted about having a match on a charity show that was being done in April. Specifically the promoter wanted a Totally Tool match. Totally Tool Wrestling is the show that Joey has run three times and a comedy wrestling show. Insane gimmicks and funny matches. The most popular gimmick that has been created out of these shows has been that of Unkle Chester. Unkle Chester has a particular preference in his sexual partners. He...well...he likes little boys. Chester has been the star of the show and rightly so. Since everyone has gimmicks on these shows, including the refs, I have come up with ideas. Last year I liberally borrowed a gimmick from Japan, from a guy by the name of Razor Ramon HG. The HG stands for Hard Gay. He wears pleather boy shorts and a pleather vest and thrusts his crotch a lot. Living in close proximity to Boystown, pleather was not hard to find, so I suited up and refereed in pleather. So when Joey was asked to do a Totally Tool match for this show, he decided that he wanted to see Unkle Chester v. PJ HG. So why not. So it was signed in January and we needed to wait until April. Like I said, the show was a charity show. Raising money for some sort of muscular disorder I think. But there were things that gave me pause about doing the show beforehand. When involved with charity, you want to make sure that things are cool. I don't want my name involved in ripping off a charity. I heard some rumors but was assured by trusted folks of the reality. Then in the final weeks there was an offer by the promoter of the charity that if they went to a show that afternoon in the same building and produced their ticket stub at the door they would get half off the admission price to the charity show. I'll let that sink in. But it was a match for Joey and with friends so I said ok. Before the show what was going to go down was decided and we waited and waited and waited for our match. We were scheduled to go on 4th. The show started at 7 and the 2nd match didn't end until 8:45. Oh lord. So finally the moment arrives. We have our entrances planned out and are ready to go. Joey is the special guest ref. He does a 10 bell salute to a fallen wrestler that passed away two years ago that day. Then he explained the Totally Tool concept. And my music hits. Brief pause here. We had really discussed what we were potentially doing here. Wrestling fans are not generally the most liberal fans in the world. And we were about to ask them to potentially cheer for one of us. A child molester or a very gay man. We knew it would be interesting. My entrance music was a techno Japanese language version of YMCA sung by the very same gentleman that I had stolen my gimmick from. I entered in my pleathered glory, thrust my hips with my boyfriend/cabana boy at my side and with 4 women to help get the people to do the YMCA. These people were not having it. As I strutted to ringside people made comments, but nothing major. The tide changed for me when a kid about 12 stood up and said, "Are you gay?!?" And I responded, "Yes I am and I'm damn proud of it." The crowd stopped. No noise, nothing and they sure as hell did not do the YMCA with me. So I did the only thing I could, yell at them for having no coordination to do a simple dance. As I waited for Chester to arrive, another fan makes a loud comment to the crowd, "Hey do you think he bought those clothes in Boystown!" I leaned through the ropes, stared right at him and said, "As a matter of fact I did." He stared back at me uncomfortably, I think worried that I was going to kiss him. Then out comes Chester. Making his way to the ring to Tainted Love, and on his motorcycle, driving it all the way around the ring it was a sight to behold. It was at this moment that I think we really destroyed the crowd. I am pretty sure that at the moment that Chester made his entrance looking all bad ass on a motorcycle that people thought, "Awesome, this biker is going to kill this fag!" Then Chester got off his bike. Wearing tighty whitey's, chaps, and a t-shirt that said "Toys for Tots" with an arrow pointing to his crotch. The crowd was deflated. This crowd of primarily children and parents was deflated. So we are in the ring preparing. My cabana boy towels me down in a loving way and then I diddle his chest hair and give him my sunglasses for safe keeping. Joey checks up for weapons as any ref should and is suspicious about the bulge in my pants. So I pull down the front of my pants and tell him that it's just my cock, revealing the front of the thong I was wearing that had a little stuffed rooster on it. What a way to start. So here we are Chester and PJ. One gay man and a man who gives gay men a bad name. We move in for an intense staredown. Nose to nose, the ref in between us hoping this doesn't breakdown in to an all out brawl. We talk some smack and then both take a big lick off of Joey's cheeks. He turns to me to express his displeasure and Chester takes the opportunity to thrust at his butt. He turns to yell at Chester and i respond in kind. Back and forth until the fury overcomes me (it's a cute little butt)and I hump away for all I am worth. But he gets away from me and runs outside the ring so I give chase. He manages to get away and back into the ring in time for me to see that Chester is going to dive on me. I scream in fear and duck to protect myself. But that rascally Chester just climbs out of the ring and gives me a giant smack on my pleathered ass. Now this hurts and I am crawling on the ground rubbing my wounded pride and cheek. While I am crawling my dear Cabana boy tries to save me from further harm, and goes to woo Chester with his Cabana wiles. He is quite boyish my cabana boy so it was worth a shot. Chester seems intrigued, but asks to see ID. Cabana boy obliges but then is rejected when Chester tells Cabana boy that he is 12 years too old for Chester. All this time I am still on the ground and there is another enchange going on, that between a daughter and a father, and I hear this from the father to the daughter, "Don't look at them Abbey. It's wrong and they are sick, don't look at them." That sets off one simple thought in my head. Fuck these people. We return to the ring. I ask Joey to kiss my boo boo. He says no. Chester and I now start to circle each other. Thinking that it is better to have a lower center of gravity, I squat nice and low. But that Chester manages to get behind me with a waist lock. As he is standing behind me with his arms wrapped around my waist attempting to squeeze the air from me he is also conveniently thrusting, which HG takes great pleasure in. Then I reverse doing the exact same thing to Chester. Let's see how he likes it from a real man and not a boy. But he manages to reverse it again. Darn. I milk this one for all it is worth. Leaping off the ground with every thrust. But HG is a giver as well as a receiver. But this time as I go to reverse, poor Joey just happens to get in my way and is now sandwitched between Chester and I. Three times the fun. More reversals ensue and then Cabana boy feels left out and get involved. So now you have 4 maniancs all thrusting at each others asses. Finally the ref has had enough and pushes back against the thrusting causing collision of cocks and coxyx and a lot of pain in Chester, HG and Cabana boy. After a period of recovery Chester and I circled each other again. More squatting and low movement. Then I see my opportunity and grab Chester in an arm wringer. Wrenching away I feel victory is imminent. But then he reverses. But I have a trick. Thanks to the fabled matches by one known quite simply as the God of Laughter, I reverse, reverse, and reverse again into a nice little dancing dip, with Chester holding me in his strong arms. Chester, flustered at my technical wizardry, drops me in frustration. We return to our neutral corners to think of a new plan, when everything changes. A song comes on over the loudspeaker. And as this happens I see one of the referees for the rest of the show come out to the ring to tell us we had to finish up NOW! Fuck these people and fuck this show. The song builds. Turn around/ Every now and then I get a little bit worried that you're never coming round/ Turn around As the sultry notes of Total Eclipse of the Heart hit my ears. I have a change of heart. Chester is just misunderstood. And really he is a piece of ass. So I look at him a little differently. And I see, he is looking the same way. We move closer, a little shyer and coy, but the heat is there. Then Chester makes his move. He takes my hand, kisses it and puts it to his well sculpted chest. I am in joy. He moves it lower and I shake. He then send me into a fit of orgasmic joy and if front of all 60-80 paid mothers, fathers and children in attendence, puts my hand into his tights. This gets the only vocal reaction from the crowd the entire night. Like Samoa Joe just gave someone a muscle buster to the floor through a table. But then that sneak Chester takes advantage of me, and with my hand still nestled in his crotch, he gives me a rock bottom and pins me to retain his Best Wrestler Ever Title. No applause no reaction and we leave, with my Cabana boy draging out my carcass. And we get to the back cackling. Those people hated us. People removed their children to the lobby until we left. I was so proud. The reaction in the locker room had changed too. There was a noticable change of tone. Whatever. I had been at the building since noon and I was starving. I needed food so I got changed and got ready to leave. As we were changing, Ian Rotten, who promoted the show earlier in the day that Joey and I and my Cabana boy Fraser had worked on came back and gave his thoughts on the match. He told us he had seen it all in wrestling, but that he had never seen such a horrific act commited on children in his life. So I made my rounds and said goodbye to people. Then I was stopped by Mickie Knuckles, the student of Ian Rotten who had also witnessed what we did and was greatly upset because of the children in the crowd and wanted me to explain and make her understand why we did that in front of children. I told her that I had always been told in theatre, that it is not my responsibility to worry about what the audience thinks. Because even the most light hearted things can piss someone off. And while I love IWA, don't you think that the amount of cursing and horrific scenes of violence that kids in the audience at IWA is just as bad? Well we have warnings on our shows. Right Mickie and warnings really helped at IWA Deep South when they you promoted a Death match tournament and the show was shut down after three matches because of excessive violence. Well that's southern people that are dumb. But with all of those kids out there how could you just do that? We were just doing what the promoter asked us to do. He knew what these characters were and in his own words said, "Do whatever you want." If he had more sense he would not have asked for the match. We would agree to disagree. But here is the reality of it all. I feel no remorse for the people that stayed in that building and watched what we did. The ones that walked out into the lobby until we left did the right thing. The concept was explained to the people that this was done in comedy. We were insanely over the top. It was absurd. It could never have been taken seriously. But some of the folks in the crowd were probably concerned when Prince performed at the Superbowl and thought that seeing that would make their kids gay. Also, he Chester been an actual biker and not a child molester this would have been fine. We could have done a match where I was out there with my Cabana boy and if we had done the traditional wrestling spots where my and cabana boy would have ended up in a 69 position or doggy style, people would have laughed and cheered and probably delighted in chanting "Faggot, Faggot." Parents and kids bonding as the virile and heterosexual biker saved the world from the marauding homosexuals attempting to kill humanity by never having children. But we didn't do that. We damaged these people and their children. The ones that stayed and observed what we did. And I could not be more proud of that fact. Current Mood: sleepy (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 17th, 2007
9:39 am	Hey There So let's see. Where am I right now? Sitting at a desk, in a new position as an underwriter assistant, updating this very neglected piece of the internet. Plans are forming and changing. I am thinking that next year I will be moving to either Louisville or Atlanta for wrestling. It's really one of those sooner rather than later deals as I am not getting any younger. Life here in the city continues. I am busy with the wrestling, lots of long road trips coming up, including a weekend in Florida, and Philadelphia. I am also thinking I will be going to that crazy burg of Blairstown, New Jersey so that I can attend my 10 year high school reunion at Blair. That terrifies me. Well, I am in a better place than I was for my 5 year reunion, just six months out of college and miserable at a job that I hated. Now I am accepting at a job that I am indifferent to, because I have my real job on the weekends. And that is the job I plan on telling people that I do now. Pro Wrestling Referee. Really, that is what I am. The 9-5 insurance gig is a side job. So that weekend could be interesting. Seeing what all of the other folks are up to, 10 years after we all left for college with the dreams in our heads. I was planning on being a vet, or possibly working for the FBI. My how things change. Oh well. Back to this massive spreadsheet that I am cleaning up. Thanks for the nudge. Current Mood: cheerful (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 17th, 2007
1:38 pm	Shit Golly Damn! Well, it's been just shy of six million years since I actually wrote in this here LiveJournal. Biggest reason? I just haven't had that much to write about. Well, not entirely true, but for those that understand, many of the things that would be the most interesting to write about have no place on here for all the world to see. Since August I have been wrestling and working and that has been my life. Also, trying to get as much work as possible when it comes to wrestling. I recently got to do 1 dark match for Ring of Honor which was very cool, and I hope to be able to do more. I have some plans to do a bit of travelling for shows (PA for Chikara will be a definite, and possibly Florida). I went home for Christamas once again. Good to see the family and experience one of the most non-traditional Christmases that I have ever had. Usuall we go all out, tree, big gathering of people at the house on Christmas eve for dinner, open presents Christmas day and then Christmas dinner at my Uncle's house. None of that this year. Mom and Sis and I went out shopping, if we wanted anything we got it. That was it. And it was honestly one of the most relaxing and stress free times of going home I have had in a long time. Plus I got to finally meet the new addition to the family in the form of Atticus, the new dog along with Scout. He is a horse, very tall and lanky, and is one of the goofiest dogs ever. But he and Scout get along very well. The family is safe and healthy and this coming Christmas, Jen and Mom are making the trek up here. For the first time in over a decade, I am not making the trip home for Christmas. Just thinking about that boggles my mind as well. I have essentially been living on my own since I was 14 or 15. I went to boarding school in 1994. And from there bounced to college and then here in Chi-Town. All the while the number of times I would go home would dwindle. Now, I have never been cut off from home, so my struggles have never been too horrible. But I have dealt with some shit. Hmmm. Kinda makes you think where you are and where you once were. Things could be a lot harder. I got into a car accident in November. I don't recommed anyone going through that experience. No injuries to anyone, but my car had a bunch of damage that I was responsible for (make sure your insurance is paid up kids). But the car is back in good health and ready to start hitting the road once again. The shows have been kind of sporadic as of late. But I have AAW this weekend. Followed by IWA next Friday and Saturday, followed by a trip to Iowa with Jesse the weeks after that and so on. Also, the main reason I felt the need to write something was because of a compliment received by a very cool new person, and I quote, "you're ridiculous in probably the most amazing way." More on that another time. Current Mood: chipper (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, August 10th, 2006
1:57 pm	Well well well.... Gather round here children for I have stories. I could easily go into some long winded listing of all of my various activities from the past several months. But heck that is so boring. But I have some stories and incidents and other assorted miscellany to throw out here. I went on a trip for three days with Joey Eastman and Egotistico Fantastico to Minnesota for a wrestling tournament. This was without a doubt one of the best road trips I have ever been on in my entire life. The tone of the trip was definitly set when Ego started holding up a sign in the window of the car asking girls on the highway to call him. Oh lord. Other highlights: - Joey found the best iced coffee he has ever had. - Joey and Ego almost got their phones taken away on the Bumper Cars because it was dangerous. - After realizing that he spilled coffee on himself, joey needed a new t-shirt so we went to H&M to buy one. - While there Ego found a swimsuit that he liked. He tried it on. Then walked around the changing area wearing just the swimsuit and asking various teens and their mothers if they liked it. - Joey found some underwear with comics (as in Superman and such) printed on them. - In line to pay, Joey and Ego got into a competition with the other people trying to determine which was a sexier purchase, the swimsuit or the underwear. - After more than 5 people in a row selected the swimsuit, Joey informed the entire line that it was obviously some sort of problem with the people in Minnesota, because in Chicago, where buying underwear is a sport, they would have picked his underwear. - They then spent the rest of the time in line trying to get people to pay for their new clothes. - Joey needed to smoke. On the way out the door I pointed out a sign that said that no guns were allowed in the mall. Joey then approached two black people outside asking them, and I quote, "Excuse me. Why can't I bring my gat into the mall? What if I need to bust a cap in some honkies?" Joey made two new friends. - While outside we convinced Ego to walk around in just his new swimsuit and a t-shirt. - We then escorted one of Joey's new friends back to the T-Mobile store where he worked. When we arrived a girl that worked there jumped onto Ego's back for a ride and Ego ran away with her. - When he returned we were kicked out of the T-Mobile store by the manager because of Ego's attire. Keep in mind that the "store" we were in was a kiosk in the middle of the mall. - We went to another wrestling show where Joey, the ring announcer won the ICW/ICWA Tex-Arkana Television Title. Larry Sweeny was not impressed. - The next day we went to Outback Steakhouse for lunch. I sang Elton John's, "I Guess that's Why THey Call It THe Blues," to the entire restaurant. - We went back to the mall and into a store that sold large bean bags. I took the rings containing the fabric samples, dressed myself in them and ran out into the mall yelling, 'I'm Sample Man! Come and feel my samples!" - I then stole one of the sample rings and left it somewhere in the mall. It was an insane trip. Many other details but those were the important ones. I have signed up to learn Capoeira. A combination of dance and martial arts it should be fun. Deb's man does it and enjoys it and I have been considering it for a while so here we go. If you want to know what it is, either Google it, or play Tekken. The job rolls on. I have done a lot of work and it keeps my house intact. I have a new car. A Toyota Prius Hybrid. It is great. Great on the gas mileage (around 48 miles per gallon) and it is very comfy and stuff. My kitchen is all rockin out now thanks to a recent visit from my dear mother. I need to cook more. I am the heaviest I have been since losing all of the weight my sophmore year. It's not an insane amount, but I feel blah and need to lose at least 20 pounds. So I am going to be cooking more for myself to get this whole weight thing under control. I'm going to PA next weekened for two days to go to Chikara. That will be a lot of fun I have no doubt. Yeah. I'm done. Chew on that. Current Mood: optimistic (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 14th, 2006
4:24 pm	Ch-Ch-Changes!!! Well yeah. Here I am. My apartment is messy and I really want to clean it, plus I need to do food shopping. Plus I just want to sit around on my couch this week. But all that aside things are here and life is great. I am now official at my place of employment. An actual decent salary, full benefits and a boatload of days off makes this a good job to be having right now. Aside from that wrestling continues to keep me busy, and I came to a new sort of realization about what I am doing with my life. I moved to Chicago in order to perform improv. That was one of the main things that during my time in college I had latched on to as a fun thing that I really wanted to do. So after a visit to the city to help my sister move, and after seeing 1 show at ImprovOlympic, the choice was pretty much made. I was going to Chicago. And I did, and I came here and started taking classes at Second City. They were a lot of fun, and I met some cool people. After a year I auditioned for and was accepted to the Conservatory program. Awesome. As is kind of usual, there was something there that really kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Plus at the time there were very tangible issues between Libby and I that we were both just outright avoiding. So I decided to take a hiatus. Then after Libby and I broke up and I had moved into my new apartment, I decided that I needed something to do, because I really had nothing. So I signed up for classes at ImprovOlympic. I loved them, they were awesome and free and I was with a really cool group of people once again. But at the same time I went for another activity that had been in my mind for a long time. We all know of my obsession with wrestling. I love it in all of its insane ways. I remember as I was moving out here, I thought to myself that if I was going to ever try this wrestling thing, it would be out here in Chicago. I had been thinking about this for years. I even almost made an attempt when in college. But knew at the time that if I did this, there was a level that I would expect of myself. This would mean working as much as possible. This would mean when I could, I would be all over the place on weekends. Anywhere I could. And I knew what this would mean on a relationship. I was very happy so there was no desire on my part to really mess this whole thing up. But there it sat at the back of my mind. So I was going to wrestling here and finally one day, my good friend Todd Gerth mentioned that he thought I would make a good ref. After telling him how I had been thinking about that the seed was planted and off I went. I went and got trained and through the help of a lot of friends I managed to get a lot of work very quickly and I also went out and got some on my own. So here I am almost a year and a half later and I am very busy and very happy. And now I have realized that improv is not a place for me right now. I feel awkward about it. My ideas of what I have wanted to do with my life have always changed on a whim, but this was something that I really made a huge life changing decision about. And now I am discarding it. I shouldn’t say discarding. I am moving on. I talked with my friend Chris on Monday and he put it in a good perspective. While I have been training in improv I have been PERFORMING for the past year and a half every weekend. While not in the traditional sense, I’ve been doing what I want to do. And I combined two passions. So here we go. Wrestling is the goal, is the life. Now I just wonder how to explain that to people. The next challenge. Current Mood: curious (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 31st, 2006
4:07 pm	4 Day Weekend Well Memorial Day weekend has passed and been done. It was a good weekend, as it ended up being 4 days for me thanks to work being closed on Friday as well as Monday. Plus, I had no shows to work at in any way. I missed that but at the same time it was very nice to not have that for such a long weekend. Friday was a lazy day. Not much to really speak of. Jesse came over to watch some wrasslin’ and then later we picked up Deb and had dinner at Piece. Awesome as always. After that I was driving Deb over to meet up with Eric and some others, and ended up going out with them. The bar we met them at was called Crew. When I walked in I realized it was a gay bar. And hey, I will say this for gay bars, or at least this one. Phenomenally clean. Besides the whole smoking ban being in effect, I just came out of there feeling nice a squeaky clean. Had a drink and hung out with folks. There was a jock strap competition which was amusing. Basically the premise was: walk on stage in a jock strap and shake your stuff. I need to get into shape and hustle these. They guy that won got a couple of hundred dollars for it. Not a bad way to make some side money. Pretty early night. I took Deb and Libby home and went to sleep. Met up with Deb on Saturday for lunch. Warm weather was back in full force and we sat outside and I was so happy. Warm weather is such a good thing and there needs to be more of it. I even got a little bit of color on my arms as a result of sitting outside, though more on my left arm than my right. Larry called during lunch and wanted to go and see X-Men 3 so Deb and I decided to join him. Awful movie. I am more than biased into thinking that simply because, thanks to Jesse, I have been reading a whole lot of the old issues of X-Men and the story that they crafted there is just better. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the medium of a comic book allows for things to take longer and develop, but regardless of that, no matter what, you need to stay true to your source material. I just feel that it is insulting to someone’s work when you feel that it is acceptable to make bizarre changes. Obviously I come from this solely as a fan, because these authors obviously signed off on the change. But besides that, Halle Berry just needs to stop. There is a little thing you are supposed to do in movies Halle and it’s called acting. Emote a smidge. I just shudder to think that what was on screen was the best that she produced. After that Larry and I made our way over to Moody’s pub to meet up with folks and we picked up Larry’s new lady Andrea along the way. Moody’s was good times and then after consuming some damn fine burgers we adjourned to Casa de Kowalsky to watch the UFC pay-per-view. Excellent show and I won a milkshake from that peon Fraser. Then the trek was made out into the night again to hit up some live band karaoke and then off to bed at 4am. Sunday was, as God intended, a day of rest. No moving from the house and I watched a very enjoyable flick called “Cool Hand Luke.” Always one of those movies I was supposed to see and now I have. Spoke with Trik Davis and it sounded like his trek out to Pittsburgh for wrestling went well. Crashed and slept. Monday was a picnic day. Deb, Eric, Larry, Andrea, Libby and I all met, eventually, at Montrose beach to partake in the memorial day outsideness and such. It was a gorgeous day. Good food was had all around and we watched people as there were ever so many milling around the park. The best was this young lady that we heard coming from 50 yards away as she yelled at the kids she was with down on the beach about the location of her baby’s pacifier and bottle. Behind her stumbled her very drunk boyfriend pushing a stroller. After the pacifier situation was rectified, she then uttered the greatest line of the day (followed closely by Deb’s statement that, “Journey rips your nuts off.”). She said with all the sweetness she could muster out of her foghorn vocals, ‘Where that bike at? I need to go take a piss, shit!” The comedy did not stop there. After getting her hands on said bike, she hopped on so that she could go piss, shit. She pedaled herself about 20 feet before she promptly fell off the bike over the handlebars. It was a wonderful day for humanity and I danced a little inside (I also danced a little outside later). But our day was cut short as the rains came and we took off and went in search of ice cream. The group divided between Cold Stone Creamery and Dairy Queen. I opted for the joy that is Cold Stone and the bliss known as Birthday Cake remix. While we waited to order I danced to the Phil Collins song playing in the store. This dance was enjoyed by some ladies in line so that was a nice bonus to the day. The ice cream was consumed and then we all split up as Deb and I had class at IO that evening. Finally asleep at about 11 and I returned to work yesterday. It was an awesome weekend. Lots of stuff going on and never a dull moment. This weekend will be a trek with Joey, Jesse and Jack off to Plainfield Indiana for IWA’s annual King of the Death Matches Tournament. I will be there clad in my long sleeves, gloves and goggles. It will be a war zone, and lots of fun. Current Mood: tired (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, May 25th, 2006
11:13 am	NICE!!!!! Just found out that the office is closed on Friday, so I got's me a 4 day weekend. Sweet!!!! Current Mood: chipper (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006
10:52 am	More Words So let’s have more of a content filled update after my one liner yesterday. It was a busy weekend that started Thursday with IWA in Streamwood. An excellent show with a good turnout of a crowd. I reffed some fun matches, and got to ref a match with Sabu. That was an interesting experience. Friday was another IWA show in Midlothian. Libby came to see this show as she had not seen me ref legitimately (that is, not in a Totally Tool Show). It was the first show she had been to in over a year, the last one being a Highland show with CM Punk and Brandon Thomaselli in the main. She enjoyed it and again it was a good show. I did get kicked in the head by Ricochet though. That was not fun. Then Marek Brave did an interview that put the world into “Fuck Debt” after that amount of F-Bombs that he dropped. Eh, whatever. After the show I gave Trik Davis and Joey DVD a ride back to Trik’s house. During the ride Ed Chuman and his buddy called me just to Boo me. Everyone hates me. All four of us stopped to eat at Denny’s which was a fun time. Food and good conversation. Back home by three and then a possibly busy Saturday. First thing on Saturday saw me make a delivery of a DVD to Josie. Then back home to do laundry. Yaaay for clean clothes. Trik and Joey DVD came over later to hang and then we planned to try and meet up with Shimmer folks for dinner, but those plans fell through. So we watched wrestling. Nothing to really complain about there. Sunday was the busy day with a 2 DVD taping for Shimmer Women Athletes. The first order of business was to got to the hotel and transport some of the wrestlers to the show. So I traveled with Lacey, Rebecca Knox and Nikita. Then all of the various stuff to get ready for the show. I had three matches so that was cool, Rain v. Lorelei Lee, Lacey v. Nikita, and Daizee Haze v. Nikita. Technical difficulties aside, this was another great series of tapings. Owner Dave Prazak and all of the women in particular should be proud of the product they are putting together, and of the fact that it is gaining in popularity. Women’s wrestling in the US has always had such a trashy element to it. More about the sex than anything else. This is simply women doing pro wrestling. And it is awesome. Food and the after party followed. Fun times with Bryce Remsberg doing his impersonation of Ricochet. Then transporting folks back to the hotel. This time with Lacey, Rebecca Knox, Bryce Remsberg and Trik Davis. Rebecca needed us to stop at a Baskin Robbins on the way back so we all got ice cream. Dropped folks off and then took Trik home. While taking Trik back I got a call from Andy Long asking for help to get people to the airport. I’ll admit my reluctance, but I said I would help so there we go. Home to sleep for two hours and then back to the hotel to take Nikita and Cheerleader Melissa to O’Hare. Then home again and off to work. Skipped out on Improv last night and stayed home to crash early. I did watch a cool documentary called. “Rize.” It was about the creation of a new style of dancing called Krumpin that developed in South Central Los Angeles. The motions and movements were out of this world, but geez. Start doing this for exercise and you will be freaking shredded. Off to sleep at 9pm and I finally arose at 8am. So nice. Now I am back at work and that is the state of things. I am actually having lunch with my boss today and I will be getting the offer to go permanent. More money and benefits. Whoo Hoo!!!!! The rest of the week is pretty clear. Memorial Day weekend is coming and Jesse and I have an insane plan to possibly head out to Pennsylvania for Chikara’s Anniversario weekend. I really want to so we will see what happens. So that’s the state of life right now. Current Mood: awake (Comment on this)
Monday, May 22nd, 2006
4:35 pm	So Sleepy I was only able to get 2 hours of sleep last night in order to help the folks of Shimmer in getting some of the wrestlers to the airport this morning. I is so tired. Current Mood: sleepy (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, May 15th, 2006
3:51 pm	Well Alright... Ok a hectic week begins very melancholic. News of friends who have had relatives pass, and news of a friend from Blair whose husband was recently lost in Iraq makes for a very downer of a day. Plus I am so tired from not being able to fall asleep last night. Just one of those days. But things look to be busy this week. Class tonight, shows for IWA on Thursday and Friday, and then SHIMMER on Sunday. That's the state of the world. Thoughts and good wishes go out to friends. Current Mood: melancholy (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, May 12th, 2006
10:29 am	Random Stuff I saw this one someone elses Journal. After going to Wikipedia and putting in my birthday (Just the month and year), you get a list of births and deaths and events that happened on your birthday. Here are some of the highlights, and do this on yours if you are so inclined: EVENTS: 1258 - Battle of Baghdad - Mongols overrun Baghdad, burning it to the ground and killing large numbers of citizens (estimates range from 10,000 to 800,000). 1355 - The St. Scholastica's Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead in two days. 1863 - The world-famous dwarfs General Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren get married in New York City. 1933 - The New York City-based Postal Telegraph Company introduces the first singing telegram. 1933 - In round 13 of a boxing match at New York City's Madison Square Garden, Primo Carnera knocks out Ernie Schaaf, killing him. 1990 - James "Buster" Douglas KO's Mike Tyson In what perhaps was one of the greatest upsets in sports history . 1996 - The IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov for the first time. BIRTHS: 1893 - Jimmy Durante, American actor, singer, and comedian (d. 1980) 1898 - Bertolt Brecht, German author (d. 1956) 1901 - Stella Adler, American actress (d. 1992) 1906 - Lon Chaney Jr., American actor (d. 1973) 1955 - Christopher Adams, British judoka and professional wrestler (d. 2001) 1971 - Lisa Marie Varon, American professional wrestler 1971 - Louie Spicolli, American wrestler DEATHS: 1912 - Joseph Lister, British surgeon (b. 1827) 1957 - Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (b. 1867) 1984 - David Von Erich, professional wrestler (b. 1958) 2002 - Traudl Junge, Hitler's secretary (b. 1920) 2003 - Curt Hennig, American professional wrestler (b. 1958) 2005 - Arthur Miller, American playwright (b. 1915) 2006 - J Dilla, Rapper/Producer, former member of Slum Village (b. 1974) Current Mood: Quizzical Current Music: Keys on a Keyboard (Comment on this)
Monday, May 8th, 2006
11:05 am	All Over the Place Well here we are. Weeks have passed. It was a good weekend. Very busy with a show in Milwaukee on Friday night and then NWA Midwest on Saturday. Milwaukee was a pain in the ass, because just like Chicago, they are doing highway construction and there were detours galore which caused us to get lost multiple times. Fuckin’ roads. Anyway. Saturday was good as we had a lot of guys there to help us with set up and tear down. I was lucky to actually help with the tear down after being slammed into a black hole by a gentleman named Abyss (with a move appropriately titled The Black Hole Slam). Black holes are a pain to get out of. Kind of like an airport but with less Krishnas. Aside from that the weekend was good. I watched two very good documentaries that I highly recommend to all. The first was called “Grizzly Man.” This was about a guy named Timothy Treadwell who spent 13 summers living with Grizzly bears on the Alaskan Peninsula. He had a lot of video footage and eventually he was killed and eaten by a bear. He had this whole mantra that he repeated about saving the bears, but whether it was just ignored by the filmmaker or never explained otherwise, I never really got a sense of what he was actually doing to save these bears. The guy would get all of the footage and travel to speak with kids about bears, and he claimed to keep them safe from poachers. But more than anything else you just see this sad image of a man who was so obsessed with these animals that he just lost touch with himself. Just see it and it makes more sense. The other documentary was called “Murderball,” and it was about the US Paralympic Rugby team. Very good as well. All inspiring and such. These guys are just as intense as any other athlete and damn they could probably kick anyone’s ass in a fight. Again, just see it if you haven’t already. So yeah. See those two things. Ah yes, my sister got a new puppy this weekend. I saw his pictures and he is so cute. Basically she wanted another dog as a companion for Scout. His name is Atticus and he is this crazy red color with some bits of black here and there, particularly on the top of his head so it looks like he has a toupee. Yeah. Stuff. The job is going well. Mindnumbing, and dull, but the people are cool, they do not hassle us and we can just relax for the most part. I have a good balance now with work and wrestling and general social things so that is good. Now I just need the funds to pay bills. There’s always something. But whatever. Summer is coming and it is all nice outside today. Love it. Scatterbrained entry here. Current Mood: content (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 24th, 2006
10:17 am	It's a Money Machine!! God Damn what a long ass weekend. Sitting here at work, my face feels like it is going to fall from a combination of being really tired and having a sunburn. So much went on. First I just want to say congrats to my dear friend Megs who just finished up her degree program in Boston for painting and had her final show this past weekend. Due to starting the new job, I wasn’t able to take a whole day off to go out there, plus I couldn’t afford it. But I am very proud of her and I can’t wait to see all of her new work. But the weekend did start a little early for me, as I was able to adjust my schedule so that I could take off and drive down to Indianapolis for IWA. Along the way I picked up Trik Davis, Tyler Black and Josh Abercrombie who all made the ride down and back much more enjoyable. I will say though that as usual all of the highways around Chicago suck major balls. At some point, every highway we were on just getting out of Chicago was under some major form of construction. Why not get all of the road workers to work the shit out of one road at a time. Then maybe the work gets done faster and we only need to be delayed in one place for a year, instead of everywhere all at once for three. But yeah, down to Indianapolis. It was a power pop ride and along the way both Josh and Trik got hooked up in a gas station with a veritable money machine. There was a gumball machine that gave out these little things containing two dollar bills. Well Josh threw down a quarter and ends up making $1.75 profit and then Trik gets the same thing. Money was flowing like wine in Indiana. The show went alright. I completely screwed up a finish which just really made me pissed off. What I had to do was so simple and I just blew it. Then later on in the show I was literally sprayed in blood by Deranged and Brain Damage. My entire face, chest and arms were speckled with their blood from them yelling at me. Insanity I tell you. Long trip back and I was finally in bed by 5am. Saturday was somewhat relaxed after I woke up at about noon. Then I was off to Midlothian for another IWA show. The show was good. There were some really good matches, particularly Trik Davis v. Josh Abercrombie and Darrin Corbin v. Arik Cannon. Wow, the people hate me in Midlothian. Ian gave me a stern talking to in front of the fans after a particularly badly reffed match between Deranged and Vito Thomaselli. There was cheating galore, but after Deranged had threatened to kill me the night before (that was how I got covered in blood) I felt it wasn’t prudent to disqualify him even though he slapped me about a minute into the match. So another late night and not much sleep. And now I am sitting here wrecked. But oh well. I have improv class tonight with a new group of people so that will be fun. Then this weekend I have a show in Iowa on Friday night and that is about all for now. Yaay for fun times and being busy. I want a nap. Current Mood: tired (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 18th, 2006
4:08 pm	Mashed Potate Pizza So yeah time has passed. The new job continues to pass the day away. It makes me some money which is nice. I’m just at that point right now where my pay needs to start catching up and accumulating so that I actually save some money. Bah. It was a pretty uneventful Easter weekend. Friday night I went out with Deb and Libby and some of Deb’s friends from her improv class which will soon be the folks in my improv class. I decided to retake session 2 as I really wasn’t getting a good grasp on the material from the teacher and I really just didn’t like working with the folks I was in class with. Don’t get me wrong they were all very nice people, but there was just something that failed to click, so I thought this was for the best. But yeah we all went out to dinner. Libby and I showed up late as I was charged with transporting her after Good Friday services since her church is right around the corner from my place. They went on longer than expected as they apparently went through the entire Passion of the Christ, in a Latin, Gregorian chant. So things took a while. But we got there and the place was cool. After dinner we headed off to the Pontiac to try and do some LBK. I didn’t do any this time for a number of reasons and we hung out hoping Deb and her friend Pete would get a shot. It wasn’t to be however and so there was some dejectedness, but such is life. Saturday was AAW in Berwyn. I went a bit early to do camp with Priest. People straggled in over the course of the 1st hour so as a result warm-ups began to suck. That was the most people I had ever done warm-ups with and after running through our regular drills of just doing a set of drop downs, then a set of leap frogs and then a set of verticals/clotheslines, Marco had us go through a set where each person did all three. I was extremely blown up and jelly legged after that one. Hopefully with me now having a job I can really get back to the gym. I was enjoying getting into shape, but after wanting to save money, the gym wasn’t that high of a priority. The show was alright. The crowd was a bit on the small side because of Easter. But everyone went out and worked hard and all of that. Jesse and I left the after party a bit early as we just weren’t feeling it. Sunday was a lazy day. Watching the weeks TV and wrestling. Then later Jesse had the great idea of pizza, so it was decided that we would make out way over to Piece which we had been planning on rocking for a while. The pizza there is damn good. Jesse had been extolling the virtues of pizza with mashed potatoes on it forever and I finally tried it and it is awesome. So tasty and filling. I have been obsessively watching wrestling recently. More than usual. There is just a lot of great stuff to watch, particularly from that country south of the United States that Dubya would like to board up. Lucha Libre is just beautiful wrestling. Full of the awesome flash and pomp that you can enjoy aesthetically, and then just full of the intense hate that is needed to watch two guys fight. Let’s face it, the fight’s were always better in school when you knew one guy had insulted the other guy’s mom. Then imagine both guys wearing masks, and a couple of guys in the background talking in Spanish and rolling their R’s and you have yourselves some Lucha Libre. Good times. Two IWA shows this weekend. One in Indianapolis and the other in Midlothian on Friday and Saturday respectively. My job is being very cool and letting me fix my schedule so I can depart early enough on Friday to make the show. Plus I will have traveling companions this time in the form of Esteban Molina, Trik Davis and Tyler Black. They both seem like they will be fun shows even though Vader will not be able to attend. Oh well. Current Mood: relaxed Current Music: Grateful Dead - Sunshine Daydream (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 11th, 2006
11:47 am	A Sight and a Rant I saw one of those little moments today. I really had to grin after seeing it. Walking along Belmont and heading towards the El, there is the usual line of traffic waiting to cross Clark. Well as I am walking I usually look at the cars and the people driving. So a bright, red Audi is approaching and in the front seat is this blond woman, about my age, and it was quite obvious that she was shouting. Now there was someone crossing the street in front of here, jaywalking. So I thought that she was just loudly commenting to him as I tend to do quite often. Since moving here I have become an intense traffic shouter, hollering at the multitudes. But then I saw the hand. The hand belonging to her passenger, one that I will assume was her boyfriend, because this was a fight of relationship proportions. He was flailing. Arms all over the place as he shouted back and you knew he was shouting loud, because he did that little up and down movement we do when shouting as if it will make our voices physically project to smack someone in the face. This was an all out fight and these two were pissed. I can only begin to imagine what the fight was about. And I am really curious about where they were going at 8:30am that would cause a fight like this. Plus they were not in business attire. My guess. Someone shit on the coats (Bonus points if you tell me where that reference is from. Larry already gets the points). Now time for a general rant. I read an article in the Red Eye yesterday and was quickly reminded of that old adage: The more things change, the more they stay the same. The article that I read was about the rise of DJ’s using laptops to DJ shows as opposed to actual records. The part of it that really got me was this one guy who made this statement that I am paraphrasing, “It’s like these musicians are holding on to this archaic, “pure” form of music, when the sounds are much better through computers.” Ok. There was a time back in the olden times of the 80’s when there was this same sort of idea when synthesizers began to become popular. There was this idea of these machines being able to replace entire bands because they could synthesize any sound. Looks like that actually caught on didn’t it. And just like back then, some musicians are today are freaking out because they think that they will be rendered obsolete by one man bands using computers. Those musicians need to calm the fuck down because I highly doubt this will ever happen for one main reason. Computers have no soul. I don’t think that a computer will ever accurately be able to create my favorite musical sound. The sound of a guitarists fingers moving along the strings on an acoustic guitar. That scratch speaks to music’s soul when being performed by a person. Just like people it’s dirty and there are some residual noises made by our existence. That is what makes music so much fun. Or at the very least interesting. Something that that is overly clean feels a little uncomfortable. Like that one friend you had whose house had the room that you could not enter, and it was covered in plastic. You need a little bit of a mess so that you can relax and enjoy the realness of it. If there are people, and I’m sure there are, that are happier and prefer music that is clear and free of human imperfections, then go ahead and enjoy them. Keep making a vain attempt to try and measure up to some sort of sonic perfection that you perceive this music has. And when you realize that you can’t measure up because you are human and are inherently flawed enjoy that too, knowing that the basis of your musical enjoyment and possibly your own self worth is on something that you can never achieve. Until the robots take over but that is another day and hopefully I’ll be dead by then. Current Mood: mischievous (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 9th, 2006
4:28 pm	Stats Updates Here are some replies to questions for other Stats. Ken asked: How many times did something of your doing, cost someone a match? Be it distraction, ref bump, etc. - Well, I don't have exact numbers for that. There were times that I went many weeks without making detailed updates. But I will consider it for next time. But I can say that the very first match that I reffed ended because I missed some manager interference. I can also generally guess that out of the 20 matches that I have reffed for NWA Midwest, approx. 75% of them have involved some sort of missed interference or ref bump. There was one show recently where I did not have one clean match. Some sort of interference was involved. Larry asked: On average how many times do you twitch per match? - 0. I do not twitch. I am a skinny, almost waifish person and my reaction are simply my body being struck with the resounding concussive force of the wrestlers strikes. I have no control over that. What promotion did you have most matches reffed in? - My top three promotions were NWA Midwest, AAW, and IWA Mid South. Iwa-Mid South won out with 45 matches, followed by AAW with 39 matches, and then NWA Midwest with 20. Todd asked: How many DQ or Count Outs finishes? - I again did not got that detailed all through the year. But I know that I have done at least 2 count outs, 1 in IWA and one in NWA Midwest. I have also had a couple of DQ's here and there. Todd also points out some other things I might want to keep track of and I will try. Those being main events and title matches. I will try to get those for next year. Also with my "Interesting Wrestlers" thing, those were 4 that did stick out in my mind at the time. There are many interesting guys to work with that I had the chance to, Ian Rotten, Necro Butcher and Toby Klein spring to mind. Also Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, Milano Collection AT, Skayde and the worlds oldest wrestler Darkness Crabtree. I should also probably remember the fact that I reffed a match involving the aptly named Dragon Dragon, so named because he is quite simply, a dragon. A giant, neon green, fuzzy dragon. And I really can't forget to mention the one and only Mississippi Madman. Some other highlights of my year: Getting to refferee two matches in the ECW Arena thanks to the Chikara Wrestle Factory. A revered building for many wrestling fans and considering that I had been able to see an ECW show there before ECW closed and here I was reffing a match in that same building meant a lot. - Watching Mike Venom cut an irate promo on an Iron Skillet restaurant manager because his steak and 12 egg whites took over an hour to get to him. - Working an outdoor show (The same one where I reffed the match for Al Snow). There have been few things more surreal than watching Doink the Clown wrestle at a county fair with the sounds of a Journey cover band playing in the background. - Getting to do some commentary for MAW and On the Mat with Joey Eastman. There may be more yet again. I really need to keep on writing things down. Current Mood: happy (Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 5th, 2006
7:23 pm	I Got Stats Biyatch!!! Well, here is sit in front of my computer a little over one year past my anniversary of actually refereeing matches. It has been a very busy year with regards to wrestling. I decided to try and keep something of a log after hearing Jim Cornette suggest it. It seemed like a good idea. My log has been overly detailed and very sparse. But I plan to continue it and generally keep some idea of the number of matches and any important ones that I might do. Importance really only being determined by me. So let's look at the interesting little facts: Total number of Matches Worked (March 26, 2005 - March 26, 2006): 150 Number of Promotions Worked For: 10 (NWA Midwest, MAW, AAW, NAWF, GLCW, NWA No Limits, IWA Mid South, Totally Tool Wrestling, Shimmer Women Athletes, Chikara) Number of States Worked In: 5 (Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Pennsylvania) Very First Match Worked: Marco Cordova v. Colt Cabana - NWA MIdwest - March 26, 2005 Last Match of the Year Worked: Chandler McClure v. Bryce Benjamin - AAW - March 25, 2006 First Title Match Worked: Marco Cordova v. Colt Cabana - NWA Illinois State Title - NWA Midwest - March 26, 2005) [Yeah, my very first match was also a title match. As if I wasn't nervous enough] First Ref Bump: Hardcore Craig/Corporal Robinson v. Steve Stone/Zero - Ladder Match for MAW Tag Team Title (My 12th match ever, Zero fell of of a ladder into me) Interesting Wrestlers Worked: Al Snow, Justin Credible, Low Ki, Bull Pain Tournaments: 2005 IWA-MS King of the Death Matches (During the entire weekend, I wore a turtleneck under my ref shirt, gardening gloves, and plastic goggles). Gimmick Matches Worked: Ladder Match, First Blood, Street Fight, Barbed Wire, Cage, Fans Bring the Weapons, Razor Blade Board, Elimination. Those are all the stats I can think of now. I will try and think of more reflections on year 1. I am fighting some sickness right now so my mind is pretty shot. If anyone can think of any stats they would like let me know and I will dish them out. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, March 27th, 2006
2:17 pm	Well Alright... So I now have a job. Temp-to-Perm with Arch Insurace working on a document scanning project. Decent pay and it was a cool office with nice people. Yaaay for money coming into my bank account. (3 Comments |Comment on this)