BrockLi Soup

I’ve always loved October. When I was a kid, it was because of Halloween and my birthday - what five-year old doesn’t like presents and candy? Besides that, autumn has always been my favorite season, but especially October. I know you’re thinking that, technically, it’s still September, to which I say, technically, so’s your face.

Reasons it’s great:

1. It’s cooler outside. Those 95 degree days with 98% humidity sucked, a lot.
2. Football! Started in September, but it gets going full-swing in October.
3. Cider. Who doesn’t love cider?
4. Pumpkins. Most especially, Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte and pumpkin scones. Love ‘em! I picked up a six-pack of pumpkin ale for the first time this year, and wasn’t impressed by the first bottle, but I think it’ll grow on me, just like St. Pauli Girl did.
5. Leaves. It’s just so pretty out there, don’tcha think?

This was the best festival I’ve been to yet. The Grillbillie turnout was lower than usual, and there were definitely folks I missed, but there were also a lot of people that I was really hoping to see. And I got to spend a lot of time with everyone, too - everybody pretty much stuck around Grillbillie Hall.

Adam bought himself a new camper over in Delaware, and literally picked it up on his way to the festival. When he pulled in, we filled the place with people (and a tree) and did some exploring. The guy who sold it to him left everything in it (dishes, bedding, cleaning stuff - everything), and since Adam had bought the thing just two hours before, he never got a chance to clean it out or figure out where things were before we got our hands on it (FN did manage to find himself his own room).

On Saturday afternoon, Amy sent me a text message from the other end of the camper - “I deem you a official grillbillie.”

“Can you even do that?” I yelled back to her.

“Of course I can, I’m an original. Go see what Matt says.”

So I showed Matt the message, and he goes, “I thought you WERE official. You’re not going to fit into an extra large, are you?”

So I don’t have a t-shirt yet, but three years after the festival where I first met them, I’ve become an official Grillbillie. Definitely my best festival yet.

Fucking hilarious. It won’t be out for another month, but you need to see it as soon as possible. I can’t believe he wasn’t arrested or severly beaten in the course of filming.

Gotta love those free screenings. It was totally worth the three-hour wait and $14 cab ride home from Georgetown, and even dealing with MySpace to get the pass.

The first Jackass was pretty awful, so I didn’t have high expectations for the second one (but then, who had high expectations for the first?) I guess it’s not a big surprise that they managed to hurdle the low bar I set for them; there seemed to be less gross-out stunts (from what I remember) and more mindless self-abuse (my favorite kind).

And it was hilarious. I think I peed a little.

Honestly, it’s a wonder these guys are still alive. They wrangle anacondas, ran with bulls, and pretty much threw themselves bodily into everything they could find (I think my favorite was the velcro truck).

Plus, any movie with a musical montage finale is OK by me. Not $10-ticket OK, but definitely free-on-a-Tuesday OK. Don’t bother paying full price, and for the love of God, don’t take a date.

(Or your kids. Seriously? Compulsory sterilization. That’s all I’m sayin.)

Everyone else who has humped the Washington Monument please step forward.

Yeah. That’s what I thought.

By default, GMail puts headlines from RSS feeds at the top of the main part of the page. I never turned it off, because once in a while it will give me something interesting. This morning, it was a question from Ask Yahoo!: How many calories do you burn while sleeping?

Turns out, a lot more than I thought - 549 calories for a 160-pound person’s 8-hour nap. What I found even more interesting was that an 8-hour drive will burn 1219 calories. Suddenly, I don’t feel so bad about snacking my way between DC and Rochester.

PS: What has two thumbs and a ticket to see Death Cab for Cutie with Ted Leo & The Pharmacists? THIS GUY.

After my checkup and cleaning, I went back to take care of the cavities late last week. I knew that the dentist and I would get along just fine as soon as I got there and he greeted me with, “I prefer my patients to be more numb rather than less, so we’re going to give you lots of novocaine.” And then he did and it was wonderful.

As they’d feared, the one tooth that was in really bad shape needed a root canal. Now, what they didn’t tell me - it seemed like they assumed I knew - was that it’s a three-part process. They took care of the two minor cavities and (I guess?) drilled out the decay in the bad one, then sent me on my way.

I went back for my third appointment this Tuesday. This one was the actual root canal part, if I understand things correctly. They drilled some more, then - and this was my favorite part - spent about ten minutes PULLING STUFF OUT OF MY FACE. He had filled me up with novocaine again, so it didn’t hurt, but let me tell you: trying to keep your head back on the headrest while a doctor keeps yanking nerves out of your jaw is strange to experience. I was a little sore when the novocaine wore off, but a couple of Advil cleared that up.

The third appointment was the next day, because I was trying to get this all done as soon as possible. This time, they actually took apart a lot of the tooth. They scraped out the root canal a little more, filled it in, and shaved down the outside of the tooth so they can put a crown on it. I have a temporary crown that already seems to be coming off a little bit, but more importantly, my face hurt like hell. The novocaine had started to wear off by the time I got home. The appointment was in the morning, so I planned to go into work once it was over, but I was numb enough that my mouth still didn’t work right, and felt enough that it was sore. I logged into our VPN and tried to get some work done, but it just kept getting worse and worse to the point where I couldn’t focus. I took a handful of Advils and a short nap, and was mostly OK from there on out.

I have to go back in about three weeks, once the final crown has been made, to have that put on. I’m assuming that part will be cake, so I can say with authority that a root canal isn’t as terrible as everyone makes it sound. Sure, it hurt, but not half as bad as I was expecting. Really, the worst part was the fact that I’ve had to go in there so many times to get the damn thing finished, but the doctor and his staff are really friendly so it could have been a lot worse.

Let this be a lesson to you, though: I hadn’t seen a doctor in about five years, and I’m not sure I’ve ever flossed way in the back (I mean, there’s no space between those teeth - how could anything get in there?). It may not have been as awful as expected, but trust me, you don’t want to have to go through the process. Floss daily and see your dentist twice a year. And if you have to get a root canal, at least you’ll know what to expect.

Do you ever find yourself walking behind someone for a few blocks, inadvertently following them, maybe as far as their home?

This has been happening to me more and more lately. Really, it’s no surprise: there are, by my count, around 500 apartments in my building, and I go past the Metro station and a major bus stop on my way home from work, so a lot of people go between that area and my building during rush hour. For some reason, though, it’s always me alone, following some girl who’s alone, and I always feel like she thinks I’m following her home. We may stand next to each other at a crosswalk for a moment, waiting for the light, and then she’ll walk off ahead of me (since I’m rarely in much of a hurry to get home in the evening). I try to make it obvious that I’m NOT following her, but then I probably just look like I’m trying not to look like I’m following her, which makes me seem even more suspicious.

Meanwhile, the girl I’m following probably has no idea I’m behind her, grappling with this ridiculous internal dilemma, while, oblivious to me, someone else follows us both.

Dear Internet,

Could you all please get the hell off iTunes Music Store so I can get the second season of Always Sunny?

Hearts, Brock

This Film Is Not Yet Rated was WAY better than I expected. As it turns out, there’s a panel of eight secret “average American parents” who rate every movie that comes through the MPAA. I never really thought much about movie ratings before seeing this, but those eight people have significant weight in the industry. A movie with an NC-17 rating is difficult to market, a lot of theaters won’t show it, and Wal-Mart and Blockbuster - two of the biggest video retailers in America - won’t stock it. If a filmmaker can’t convince them that the movie is suitable for an R, they have a hell of a time making it profitable.

I probably wouldn’t pay to see it a second time (only because it’s a documentary), but I would definitely see it again and I’d recommend every see it.