PREPARE FOR VICTOLLY!

Hey, guys! Sorry I didn't write yesterday. I was out and about and got home pretty late. I was pretty tired, for sure. And get this! I didn't even end up going apple picking yesterday! What the heck's up with that?! I did a number of other things, but there was no apple picking involved. What a ripoff! But instead of apple picking, Kathleen and I did some grocery shopping at Stew Leonard's and made some pretty great eggplant parmigiana. If I were to pick out a highlight of the day, though, it would have to have been tasting the best ice cream flavor I've ever had. While shopping through Stew's we picked up some interesting looking ice cream saucers. And when we eventually tried them, we were pretty much blown away by how good the tasted. I mean, I was in tears, because I knew life would never get any better than that first time having pumpkin butterscotch ice cream. Yes, indeed. The magical flavor that completely floored me was pumpkin butterscotch. It was so good I had it before and after dinner. So I need to go and stock up on as much pumpkin butterscotch ice cream as I can before the season ends and I'm stuck with boring seasonal flavors like candy cane and reindeer nuts. Although, reindeer nuts isn't that bad. It has chocolate-covered cashews.

So let's talk about something I hate. Things I hate always makes for a good long rant. Am I right? But something I really hate, is people who try to disown their past. I was discussing this with my friend AJ today. We were discussing it in terms of music people like, but it's true of anything, really. I'll probably base my whole argument on musical tastes, but you can replace any time I say "nu metal" or "Spice Girls" or whatever with the term that best fits your situation. Enough prefacing. To paraphrase AJ, "What's so wrong with being a complex, changing person?" Is it really that important to some people to have always had it right? Should I be embarrassed about having evolving tastes? Take me for example: I used to listen to nothing but ska. Sure, other styles of music were cool, but why would I listen to those genres when I could be listening to ska? It just made a lot of sense. And I was perfectly happy just listening to ska. I was in ska bands, I was skanking at all the ska shows, I wore checkers all the time. I was a huge dork. I'm not denying that. But am I ashamed of it? Hell no! Ska was the springboard that introduced me to all of the bands I listen to today. Since broadening my horizons in the music listening world, I've grew out of listening to a lot of the ska I used to listen to. There are still plenty of ska bands I listen to, but I've definitely cut down on my ska library. But you'll never see me denying that I listened to nothing but ska at one point. I was just getting into the underground scene at that point, and that's what was appealing to me. Now I'm into all these other types of music. People change. I wasn't always the sweet dude with flawless taste that I am today. But there are people out there who want everyone to think that they've always had it down. They put up some front that they've been listening to Black Flag, and nothing but, from the moment they were born. Fuck you! I knew you when you were "skankin' in the pit" to Stealing From Peter. Oh yeah? You just listen to Explosions in the Sky and Mono? Really? Because I distinctly remember you going to see The Ataris and The Starting Line every time they came to town. All of these people are so fake. And you know what, it wouldn't bother me nearly as much if they didn't shit all over the kids that are new to the scene. That was you a couple years ago, douchebag! The last thing we need is some jaded, pretentious post-teen making kids feel bad about the music they listen to. That makes the scene seem real appealing. If anything, we should be encouraging these kids to listen more. We should be getting them into the music, not pushing them out of it, because guess what? Punk isn't some exclusive club. It's for everyone. And this isn't some campaign to save punk, I'm just telling you to quit being a prick. Embrace these newcomers, so they can make great bands, and I won't have to see the same shitty powerviolence band on every god damn show. There's nothing wrong with growing up and liking different music. You weren't born king of the scene, and nobody really cares what bands you think suck.

Well that was a pretty good rant if I do say so myself. I hope it's at least a little bit structured, and has some of that classic wit I tend to inject into all of my entries. In my Humanities class today, we had a debate on the issue of abortion. It didn't get nearly as heated as I would have liked, and whenever it did get heated, it was always about some dumb point that had nothing to do with the argument like "If I don't got a say in whether she gets an abortion or not, why I gotta pay child support?" Sit down, you numbskull. This isn't Maury. We're discussing whether or not abortion is immoral. Abortion is totally not immoral, by the way. I think everyone should have an abortion at one point. No woman is free until she has complete control over her body. Remember that, kids. I'm going to go be talked to about World of Warcraft and not understand a word of it. Wish me luck! See you tomorrow!