Highlights of 2009

(in no specific order)

*NYC bars with the Creep when the Yankees won the ALCS. Hanging out with the Creep is always a blast, but the whole city was pumped that night. Our first bar got us pretty buzzed. There was a lady sitting next to me at the bar and she had a dog next to her. It was a Boston terrier and had buggy eyes and was a little twitchy. I asked her if her dog was blind. Turns out, THE LADY was blind and this was her Seeing-Eye dog!!! hahahahaha!!!! I didn't see her eyes or walking stick before I asked the question. oops. Overall, a hilarious night with the Creep and his magic in getting hot chicks to talk to us.

*Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. A super-crew of Doug, Vanessa, Kzak, Steve, Bonnie, and myself camping in the rain and folking all day Saturday in the mud. Great tunes, great friends.

*Gallagher's fights at Boston Boxing. That kid can really wail. Good job, G- you have inspirational dedication, perseverance, and grit.

*Landing a freelance/contract job at Yellin McCarron

*Landing a full-time job at One to One Interactive

*Long weekend with the grandparents in Arizona. Despite the months of unemployment, this was a great getaway to get some much needed sun and chlorine. An abundance of melon, grapefruit and other fruits for breakfast every morning, and one dinner overlooking the desert sunset through the mountains. Gorgeous.

*Spring vacation in El Salvador. What a trip!! I ate so much Salvadorian food including ceviche, tons of papusas, and some 4am burritos!(which probably give me the 2-week stomach ache upon returning to the states). Tania, and her friends and I went to a beautiful black sand beach and a wild cow strolled right in front of us! We went to a lake in the inside of a massive crater/volcano! We even got tickets to the ES vs. USA World Cup qualifying match in San Salvador!!! I saw the poorest people I've ever seen by far in ES. The day I returned, I got laid off from work- wish they had told me before I left!

*Family reunion with the cousins. I hadn't seen some in about 10 years or more! It was great to see everyone again and meet all the new kids.

*Mt. Auburn cemetary with Bon. We couldn't have gone on a better autumn day. That place was absolutely beautiful and I was in awe the whole time. It honestly felt a bit out of this world. Graves start at $10K...

*Arnold Arboretum with Bon. That place is always fun to explore and we even found new spots! Doing a j in the 'redwood' looking section and getting lost in the surreal looking forest was a really fun adventure.

*Saturday night Adoration with Bon. A really amazing way to spend a Saturday night. I loved it.

*Groundwork/blueprints for chef/catering company begun! In my unemployment, I started really digging into how I might be able to monetize my passion for cooking without sitting in a restaurant's kitchen. Hopefully I can put more movement to the plan now that I have a full time job.

*MonsterJam with Sam for Valentine's Day. So loud and so much fun!!

*Soup Off vs. Becca. Her corn chowder vs. my exotic mushroom, tiger lily, and bamboo Hot and Sour soup?!? Please! How did I not win that?! The judges were bribed, I tell you.

*Men's Retreat and Men's Group. I've been looking for a great group of guys that I can both cut loose with and also talk about our faith with like Aaron, Chris, Mark, and Tom for a long time. So grateful for these guys, and these opportunities!

*Moved into Charlestown house. This place is dope and I am unbelievably lucky to live in such a house. Blows my mind every time I come 'home'.

*Dinner at Olives with Mom, Dad, Brett, Bon, Hank, and Rene. One of the best restaurants I've ever been to- probably in my Top 5 I think. Great atmosphere, company, service, and amazing food and drink. I forget what the occasion was, but I got a peek at the bill at the end of the night- wow.

*Bunker Hill Parade. Sitting right on my Charlestown steps, I got a great glimpse at Boston history and current people/events. It also reminded me how fun parades are.

*Montreal with Krissy, Jasmine, and Bon. It couldn't have been a better spring weekend to go! We made it up in record time and enjoyed the Botanical Gardens and Insectarium, Mass at the beautiful Notre Dame (with insane organ solo as everyone walked out), St. Joseph's Oratory, tons of crepes, and many parks/greenspaces in this lovely city. I can't wait to go back! Thank you Krissy!!

*Painting with and getting to know Tim K. It was really special getting to know Tim better and laugh at his hilarious sense of humor. He really cracks me up! Great guy, amazing and truly inspiring.

*Joining a summer lacrosse league! It was the first time I've played in 8 years!! I was pretty out of shape and underweight, but after a couple games, I started dogging some guys out there. It felt great to be playing again and I've been chomping at the bit for summer 2010 to come!

A Vision of Hell

In a clearing in the woods, I'm in a pen about 30 ft. wide by 50ft. long. Actually, its just a roped off area. The rope is a yellow, plastic twine, held up about waist high by thin poles. I am in this pen with about 10-15 other people. They all look insane, disconnected.

I notice that there is another layer of cord, larger in diameter than the one that contains me, with about 5ft. of space in between. Standing on the other side of this cord are people with round faces and huge eyes. They're always looking into the inner-pen, but the 5ft. 'moat' both sides just out of arms reach.

There is an opening in one corner of the pen, but a strange force tells me not to go through it.

Brett comes to visit me- finally a familiar face! He stands in the gap between the two sets of rope. I ask him, "Where did Dad go? I had bought him a soda from McDonalds, but I returned, he was gone". Brett tells me, "Dad is dead. He has been for years". Something inside me knows that he is right and that the pen I'm trapped in is timeless, but its the first time my ears have heard it. "No," I say, "that was just last week". "No," he says, "that was over 50 years ago". I can't argue- I know he's right. Plus, his visit seems to be only for a limited time. "Mom died too, and Aunt Ev." His voice trails off as his words begin to sink in. He begins to leave and I follow him around to the opening in the pen. No words, only screaming feelings; "Don't go! Please come back to visit me again, Brett! Please come back again!" He's gone and I can't follow him out.

I turn back to 'the Keeper' of the pen in a fury. He stands with other guards in a roofed porch-type thing with a wooden banister all around, and steps leading up to the front. I walk right up to the banister in front of him and throw a punch. It lands lightly on his cheek. Furiously, I beckon him closer, and to my amazement, he leans forward with a smile. I hit him in the mouth and hear a 'clank'. I hit that hideous smile smile again, hurting my hand, again hearing the 'clank'. The Keeper is an ugly troll of a man: short, balding, a rosy face littered with spots and freckles. The pain and clanking, I realize, is coming from his 4 solid gold teeth, all worn and jagged, his K9's a little larger than normal. He laughs at my fury and frustration of not being able to leave the pen. I look over my shoulder at the opening.

"You've got it good in here, sonny," he says. "You think whatever is out there is better?! Try this!" He lowers his hand and I drop 3ft. into a small pit filled with millions of nugget-sized demons, all biting and ripping at my body from the waste down; an indescribable, unearthly pain. Instantly, I'm back standing on firm ground in front of the Keeper. I understand my place and walk back into the middle of the pen. I look out to all the wide-eyed people staring in and conclude that these must be the people that tried to leave. They are now in another world, an inferno as Dante described it, eyes fixed on the small pen of grass that they once caroused, as unimaginable, torturous devils turn their bodies and souls into personal playgrounds.

Octopus Dream

Sunday morning I had a dream I was on a fishing boat with a couple other people. Next thing I know, we're underwater; somehow a submarine fishing boat. We came across another boat who had apparently hooked something big. "Whatever's on the the end of this line is enormous" they said. We threw out a line to take over the job of wrangling the beast in, and before it even came up, I knew what it was: a giant squid! When it came at us, it was pretty pissed and moving fast, and I jumped out of the boat and swam down to hide behind a rock. In the distance, I could see the octopus chasing the boat away through the water. Left stranded, I began to worry how I'd ever get home. As there was no cell phone service underwater, I logged on to facebook to alert people of my location (apparently there's deep sea wi-fi now). "Please come find us soon!" it said. Finally, a boat comes to the rescue and I'm wrapped in warm blankets and led to a bedroom to sit down. Just as I sit to reflect on how crazy of an experience that was, I notice a couple ants crawling on the bed and flick them away in disgust. The dream flashes forward. I'm making a tiny bomb to kill the octopus, but am nervous that if its too big, it will hurt me as well. I wrap it in bacon. I want the octopus to eat it, and have it explode inside, but not hurt me in the explosion. I'm approaching the octopus, his tentacles swirling about me, and I start to move to push the bomb inside his mouth....

and that was the end of the dream! Crazy, huh? I've come up with my own interpretation, but will leave it off of the blog and up to your imagination. ;)

AJ in the job hunt

As most of you already know, I was recently laid off from my media planner job, and am now in the ocean of the unemployed.  For the past couple weeks, I've been researching businesses of interest and also speaking with many people about my career path and next step possibilities and opportunities.  I've been looking in the media and marketing realms in which I've studied and have experience, but also taken some time to consider a major change into the culinary world.  I've always had a passion for food and cooking, and lately have been trying to discern whether this would be a wise move for me to make.  The romantic entrepreneurial idea of creating my own personal chef/catering company appeals to me, but I am aware that I would need to start with some classes and kitchen experience, on top of it being a very popular and competitive field with the rise of Food Networks cooking personalities and the recent trends in organic foods and 'more conscientious' eating habits.  Nevertheless, I am still excited by the idea and will continue to see what opportunities are out there in both the media/marketing and culinary worlds.

Soul-shaking Blues

I like heavy music. I like songs sung and played with a fist inside the chest of its creator. Not that it has to be angry heavy-metal, it just needs to be powerful and strong; from a force that drops with the precision of a gavel and thunder of an earthquake. It makes my stomach and throat tingle, and my eyes get a wild look if they're not closed. 'Big Eater' by The Bad Plus, '4th of July' by Soundgarden, 'Ballad of a Thin Man' by Bob Dylan, 'Tarantula' by Smashing Pumpkins, 'I'm Bad (like Jesse James)' by John Lee Hooker, and even a lot of classical pieces. A lot of them are rooted in the Blues, a genre I can't get enough of. The best word I can think of to describe the sound is 'heavy' and it washes over me, covering me with a leather chest plate, gloves, and shoes perfect for the occasion. It's not anger, its just testosterone. A man was not made to sit at a desk. The music is usually good for lifting, but lifting is just practice for sport. Wow- I'm back to lacrosse again... I started looking for a Boston men's league a while ago, but to no avail. I found youth leagues, an indoor league out in Worcester, a league for ex-Division 1A studs, and a 30+ geezer league. I'm going to get my ass handed to me, but maybe I should try walking onto the ex-D1 league... Well, there goes the thought about music and the blues... Sorry :s

SA lax

Florida lacrosse was a completely different game. Of course everyone appreciated a good bell-ringer from time to time, but it was much more about skill and finesse. This was 'beach lacrosse'...
One of my first lacrosse memories at St. Andrews (the Scots) was during a one-on-one drill and I was playing defense. Chris Cawood, who would later become one of my best friends, was the other player in the drill and about to put a move on me when I swung my stick like a Harrisburg club into his forearms and midsection. I can't remember whether he took a swing back at me or not, but basically he stopped and shouted outraged obscenities, and the rest of the team seemed to agree! Apparently, I was a 'hack', and quickly learned what designated a 'slash' penalty ;) . Under the direction of pre-anger management Coach Goldberg, we learned the basic skills and fundamentals of the sport. Move your feet, scoop through the ball, keep your stick in the imaginary box above your shoulder, bounce your shot, pick away. After however long it took Goldberg to learn your name, you were subject to his fire in public. He was a little man with an engine and mouth like a motorbike (*Sublime lyric?). Actually, very much like the motorbike in Nintendo's Excitebike, especially when it was redlining! He would have a vein bulge in his forehead when he told you you sucked in front of the whole team. A ton of guys hated him and a few even quit because of his harsh attitude. I loved him. Many, many times he reamed me out in public and in private. He could be extremely demoralizing, intense and intimidating, but he did it because he passionately wanted us to get better. He had been Rookie of the Year at UNC and even went on to play for Team USA. It was clear that he was passionate about the game, but a lot of the kids didn't care to put up with him. As I said, I really liked his brutally honest, in-your-face coaching style. When you did good, you were his hero. When you did poorly, he let you know it. I compare Coach Goldberg to what I'd expect NFL coaches Bill Cower and Bill Parcels to be like. If you can handle these coaches and excel underneath them, you can be a great player and do amazing things. IF you can handle them. One thing Coach G always did say after a good 'whipping' was, "only because I like you, Johnson! Once I stop talking to you, then you know I don't like you anymore". That was good enough for me. Granted, I only saw the angry Goldberg for my first two years. Then, I believe he was made to take an anger management course or something, because he came back my Junior year a changed man. Still, a great coach, but much softer.

Despite the super-intense coach (who could also have a very fun, playful side), lacrosse in Florida was a blast. We had amazing facilities and equipment, perfect weather, hot water girls, and... we were good. Really good. We were Florida State Champions three of my four years, and when we didn't even get to the finals during my sophomore year, the seniors cried. We were the best, the team to beat. We had teams fly in from New York, Texas, and even Canada to play us. During spring break, we had Syracuse, Yale, Duke, and Colgate (top college programs) come down to our campus. They'd do clinics with us during the days, and then they'd have games on our field at night under the lights...

Under the lights...

Wow. The memory of that feeling just came rushing back to me- playing a big game at night under the lights. An athlete warrior in the spotlight. The clean night air. The ultra green grass and the freshly painted lines. The bright orange pipes that I'd hurl the ball between. The eyes. The pressure. The pre-game hype and nerves building up, ready to explode. For the big games, we were even led onto the field by a team of bagpipers; the sound cutting through your soul. An elemental, almost overwhelming feeling combining excitement, fear, passion, strength, honor, truth, will, courage, and energy. It was an incredibly intense experience for me, those night games, and I know the other guys on the team felt it too.

Why go by rail?

I'm riding on a Bolt bus from Boston to New York and wonder why I ever paid $80 to make this trek on Amtrak so many times in the past. The bus goes straight from Boston to New York except for a gracious 10-minute break for a quick bite or stretch of the legs. So the ride is faster and smoother. The Bolt bus (and Megabus, and similar companies) is only $18 even if you purchase the ticket the day before you leave, while the train (only one option: Amtrak) can be up to $100 or more! The bus is quieter as there aren't any announcements of stops. It's also calmer as very few people are walking up and down the aisles. But the kicker, for me, is that the bus has free wi-fi!! Isn't it unbelievable that the Amtrak Acela, which advertises to the 'business traveler', does not even have wi-fi?! Basically the business traveler is stuck on their crackberries or offline with their Powerpoint slides. I think Obama just prepared a ton of money to go into the American rail system, right? I believe there is a belief that trains don't pollute as much as cars and buses, but is that really true? I'm not so sure. I used to have Amtrak as a client when I worked for an ad agency, and although they had a couple 'green' ads created, I don't think they ever saw the light of day as there was never enough support and confidence that this angle was going to be a strong selling point! I'll look more into that Obama plan to see waddup..

Intro to lacrosse

When I moved to Harrisburg, PA in 7th grade, I was introduced to the sport of lacrosse. I had heard of it in NJ, but never seen or played it. In PA, we started practice on a snow-shoveled parking lot across from the school. It was freezing and even the smallest slap checks smarted incredibly. Maybe it hurt so much just because that was my first encounter with contact sports (soccer isn't 'contact'), but I doubt it- it was COLD. Stick heads were brittle and broke regularly. We weren't bad, but it wasn't pretty. We had poor mechanics and preferred to lay each other out rather than string two to three clean passes together for a highlight goal. We used our sticks like bats and our heads like battering rams. Watching the older high school guys was fun, but for now, just the idea and concept of lacrosse was good enough for us as we practiced our boyish muscles, courage, and testosterone.
**Side note: One day after a number of guys on the team had been quarreling for a while, the coach had all 20-25 of us stand shoulder to shoulder in a tight circle (so no one could see in from the outside). In full pads and helmets but no sticks, guys who had beef with each other would enter the circle, one on one, and beat the shit out of each other. No kicking or dirty fighting, but otherwise full force. The coach would break it up after it was over and make the two guys shake hands. I'd imagine he would've gotten fired if the school or parents found out about that day, but I thought it was a great thing to let the boys do. Looking back now, it reminds me of the warrior training that you see in the movie '300'. Young boys are taught how to fight, deal with fear, and be honorable in that Spartan society, and I'm glad we got a small taste of that in our own Circle of Death. Funny- our schools mascot was the Spartans...**
Florida lacrosse was a completely different game. Of course everyone still appreciated a good bell-ringer from time to time, but it was much more about skill and finesse. This was 'beach lacrosse'...

Signs

I'm a Capricorn and although Catholicism/Christianity is against the idea of our nature and destinies determined by the moon and stars (or anything but God), I've found that a lot of it is fairly accurate. I'm not talking about daily horoscopes- those are as bogus as fortune cookies. But the explanation of signs' characteristics as well as relationship details and compatibility are interesting. Granted, I do read them with a grain of salt, reserving the skepticism that we automatically believe something is accurate ("that's soo me!") even if they're very broad and generalizing statements. Although not everything I've read is dead-on, I've found some decent insights into the way I work day-to-day, the way I work in relationships (actually I've found this to be the least accurate), and how I relate with different signs. Some of the 'Capricorn' stuff says we are creative, independent/self-reliant, stubborn, and realistic borderline pessimistic. That seemed pretty good. I've read that we are fairly stuck in our routine and aren't always spontaneous. Meh, a little. And finally, one thing that stuck out for me is that we're 'cold' in relationships. That we're often over-critical and quiet/introverted which can be interpreted as 'cold'. Shmaybe. I do feel very critical of people, but also very forgiving, caring, and 'warm'. Maybe this makes me feel superior to people though??... haha, I don't know.
What's strange is that I'm defending myself against Astrological sign characteristics!
Why??
Because they haven't had the best things to say about the relationship I'm in right now. Again, not everything I've read is completely accurate, but a good percentage reflects pretty well in my mind. Could it be a self-fulfilling prophesy though?? Those aspects of the relationship have previously occurred to me, but definitely have been brought to the surface after reading some 'signs compatibility' stuff. It's interesting to look at that stuff to analyze relationships (past and current), but I don't like looking at it too much or else my over-analytical side kicks in ;)

Intro to AJBloggeroni

Hello, Wide World Super-Highway,

This is my first blog ever so I figured I'd do the regular embarrassing intro that you are always forced to do when meeting a big group of people.  I figure nobody will be reading this blog for a good while anyways, so what the hell...

My name.. is AJBloggeroni and I'm a person.  You're a person.  We're all persons.

I'm random.

I should be a cook, not working behind a desk and computer.

I enjoy movies, and too often speak in quotes.  

I love God, or at least try to as best as I can, and struggle to appreciate the path of Truth to the point where I can live it without the feeling of laws holding me down.

I love music and have recently been introduced into the world of Bob Dylan.

I'm a meat-head disguised in a nerd's body.

I'm a poet.

I hold my tongue probably too much, and am looking forward to letting it loose here.  

I live in Boston, and love this city.

I make to-do lists constantly, and chronically procrastinate.

I wish I spent more time outdoors, and am sad at the ways I see kids growing up these days.

I'm an idea-man, and thrive on enthusiasm.  Easily excitable.  Want to try new things even if they might not seem like the best idea.  I have a hard time passing on challenges.

On second thought... this whole 'intro' thing is dumb.  If you're gonna find out about me, and if I'm going to have a voice, what better a way than for me to just jump in feet first?  Nuff said, homie.  

See you in the next episode