The highest of holidays

Judging by everyone’s constant updated facebook statues about 420 I'm sure you all had a great day. As for myself, I spent the hours between 9am - 6pm in class yesterday. No break. Yuck.


Awesome 420 right? Believe it or not it was. Things took a turn for the better around 1:30pm - my media class got out thirty minutes earlier on account no one was there nor listening as usual. I figured with the thirty minute block of time between early dismissal and my next class I could either A) go eat lunch or B) go walk through the Boston common where I knew for sure shit was getting blazed up.

Quick decision.

With that I sprinted across a busy Tremont street (ok I waited for the cross walk) and into the common. It was a damn near perfect day weather wise as proof by the pictures sprinkled amongst this post.

As I got closer and closer to the epicenter of the common - it hit me. That invisible aroma triggered my senses. A lite breeze turned the common into a weedstank melting pot and I was getting the sloopy seconds with no complaints.

Walking up the steep incline I reached the highest point in the commons (pun absolutely intended).

People were out in force smoking bowls and blunts like the shit was going out of style. I stood there and contemplated asking the group of six or so Mexican thug cartel ring leaders if I could get a drag on their gorilla finger sized blizz.

On second thought I decided to scan the commons below for someone I knew. The whole time I was there I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

People coming to the epicenter from all corners of the globe - pulling blunts out of the air and lighting them up in front of little kids and park rangers. I started laughing because of this settings absolute ridiculous. To add to the insanity, I spotted a merry-go-round in the middle of everything. Obviously. All this happiness and second hand-i-ness made me hungry so I reverted back to plan A) go eat lunch.

Does this cup cake mixed with soft serve royal raspberry topped with sprinkles look like a meal I'd eat on 420? Well the answer is yuuuup and just wait.

A few more hours and one more class till I was clear for lift off. Over in mission hill my co-pilot on this day, DJ, waited patiently at the launch site for my arrival. Class 2-5:45. Teacher brought snacks. Dude knew what was up. After class, I made my way over to the sketchy ass orange line via the sketchy ass Chinatown stop to sketchy ass Roxbury crossing. Quick walk from there and I was at the launch site. Couple jays and a ghetto “time travel machine” and we were ready to go. Raj couldn’t believe the contraption I had assembled so he came along for the voyage. Marathon Dave, DJ Addy, and Ayyiiii stood out on the porch

 It was epic.

Back inside for a couple rounds of Super Smash and Goldeneye then it was on to trying to spot Izzy at the Celtics game. Didn’t take long to spot him amongst the crowd. Sick seats bro.

(can you spot Izzy?)

Since the Celtics game was a complete fuck – a clinic from Ray Ray, we decided the “spot Izzy game” was far more exciting. To top off my 420 me and DJ destroyed a soup kitchens worth of rations.

 Switching in-between the Celtics and sox we managed to land on NESN just in time to see Darnell McDonald put one off the bottom of the monster for the walk off. A successful 420 indeed.

(oh there he is. gaahttt him - very top left)

Fans these days

As we all know, baseballs opening night is Sunday April 4th when the Yankees come to Fenway. If you’re a fan of either team or of baseball in general this isn’t news to you as you’ve had this day circled on your calendar since the schedule was announced. Now, a die-hard fan like I knows there is no chance in hell I’d ever be able to: A) afford a ticket to this game, and B) afford a ticket in general to any games. What I do know is that the crowd that mostly comprises a Fenway home game is full of….

 

• Business parties who have no interest in the game
• Girls looking down, texting throughout the entire game “yaaaaa I’m at the gamee!”
• Little kids there with parents who just want a t-shirt, hat, and a ice cream
• Season ticket holders

 

The demographic that’s missing these days are kids ages 16 – 24 who should comprise at least 30% - 50% of a crowd. It’s from this group that the wave is able to make a complete lap around the stadium, that a Yankee’s Suck chant will start in the 3rd inning when the sox are playing the Blue Jays, that every opposing team player is booed till the brink of tears.

 

 

The ballpark environment has shifted and I hate it. I should be there – eyes on the game the whole time, cheering for every Sox player, wearing the shit outta my 2007 World Series shirt, screaming till my voice gives out.

 

 

 

With all that in mind here’s what I heard on the train this morning. A business looking gentleman entered the train at the Copley stop. On board was an apparent friend of his judging by the “HiiiiI!!!” and the embrace the two shared following.

 

They talked – I eavesdropped.

 

It came up in the conversation that both of them would be at Fenway on opening “day” (games at 8:05pm) but they’ll be there for opening day. This is exactly the type of person I was talking about when I said the crowd these days sucks.

 

Strike one: Kid said he’ll be at opening day for “the team” (kid doesn’t even know the Red Sox play at Fenway, pretty sure I knew that when I was still in the womb)

 

Strike two: “Ya I’ll be at opening day on the 5th” (kid doesn’t even know opening day is the 4th)

 

Strike three: “I’m sitting in the Miller Lite section” (kid doesn’t even know it’s the fucking Budweiser section)

 

So besides the fact that this kid is out – he still gets to somehow participate in the glory that is Opening day at Fenway Park. Fortunately, Fenway can hold a lot of people so I know that my 16 – 24 year olds will represent well and boo the shit out of the Yankees when they come to town next Sunday. I have no doubts this will be a great season – maybe I’ll get a ticket and prove to all just how a fan should be in their teams presence.

 

History/philosophy/business teacher or a man who sleeps on two bags of trash?

I learned more on my way to school today than in actual school.

After waiting 20 minutes in the pouring wind driven rain  to board the train (classic B line) I managed to snag the last open seat. The train roared 100 yards down the track and stopped at Harvard ave, then another 100 yards to packards corner (classic B line) then 50 yards to the next stop.

It was here that our teacher boarded the train - puffy vest from urban renewals, a metallic cane, grizzly wilderness beard, shoes with no back, and two bags of trash that he made clear were "clean bags of trash everyone".  He walked over dropped his bags and posted up right in front of me. Standing to my right was a pretty young asian woman who was minding her own business balls deep in her school notes, as for me I sat balls deep in my blackberry.

"Ouch!"

I looked up and so did everyone else. The asian woman bent down picked up her umbrella and walked back further into the train car.

The grizzly bearded philosopher bent down and put his hand in my face, pinching his own hand. "Its proven fact. Asians have special powers in their blood that make them smarter than the jews and the blacks and the white american."

I looked at him as seriously as he was looking at me. "I'm going to go ahead an disagree with you completely on that"

If it weren't for the fact the train was packed and I had the last seat I would have never bothered to put up with this crazy talk - but I was cornered. He went on rambling about how all this was "proven fact" and at one point his own revelations weren't making sense to himself. It was when he finally stopped to take a breath (somewhere in between talking about a billionaire professor up in Toronto who had all these findings and how MLK Jr. was a left wing crazy who just wanted MONEY) that I butted in with my own deep intellectual facts.

"Toronto is in Canada".

I stopped him dead in his thought tracks. After all the time he had given me to formulate a response I went with the canada option to stun him. Sure I could have said one of the following:

1. "ohhh all this from a guy who carries trash around" 
2. "I've been in school for 14 years and I've never heard any of the findings you speak of" 
3. "your ollllddddd"
4. "I graduated magna cum laude, gave the commencement speech at graduation and am currently  en route to class at my school that was just named to some presidential honor roll list for greatness"

Did i think all that. Yes. Did i say any of it. No.

I choose nurture over nature (nature being to completely rip on this crazy dude and nurture being to try and educate this man properly). After repeating back to me that yes, indeed, Toronto was in Canada he went on to talk about how corrupt america was and that to be american was to serve only....I  tuned out right there, I was growing tired of this. I asked if he got all his facts from the enquirer and if he's ever read an american history book

"I don't read" he told me.

He went on talking about how albert Einstein's theory of relativity had to do with medical findings or some shit? All the while continuing to remind me that this is "proven fact by that guy in Toronto". I refuted these "facts" back and forth with him drawing the attention of some of the passengers - who giggled softly at some of my sarcastically witty responses.

I clearly had the dominant position in this conversation, even tho by film standards, since he was standing looking down at me and I was sitting looking up at him it would infer that he was in the dominant position. But that's film, this is the B-line on a Monday

I asked him what he had in the trash bags and he told me he sleeps on them. My initial hypothesis was correct: homeless.

He kept talking and I kept trying to get a solid picture of him on my phone so I could blog later with proof. Eventually after I snapped a picture I cut him off mid-bullshit-fact and asked if he had a library card.

"No" he said. I told him that they are free and that he should get one and read up on these facts. Get off at copley, the boston public library is there I advised him. He wasn't as much interested in the free books and exponential learning possibilities but instead was curious to know if the library had a basement. I could only assume it did and it wasn't until later that I realized he's probably going to try and sleep there tonight.

By this time in the conversation we had gone underground. I had also reached the tipping point of this conversation (plus he was getting physically closer and closer). The train pulled into the Hynes stop - I jumped up, said nice talking to you and exited the crowded train and waited for the next one.

I feel like I should take a shower to wash this dudes bad breath and far-winged views off me.

Quad City DJs Quad City DJs C'mon N' Ride It (The Train) Klip