Comment Boxes 101

Now that most of our readers are back in school, which somehow miraculously makes browsing the internet and subsequently reading our annoying posts that much easier, it's time for class.
This course is entitled Comment Boxes 101.
Somewhere during the course of the summer, when the format of this site got changed, I trashed the link to the guestbook. There is good reason for this. Namely, only I have access to the guestbook, which proves rather limited. By access, I mean password. By password, I mean the one I forgot sometime long ago.
Also the guestbook proved retarded because everyone kept leaving PMs (private messages, not post-meridians) which no one but me could check, and on the occasion that I somehow could get access to check them, were for someone else anyway.
The "Comments" option is a good route to go, because it provides a user friendly interface for both us regular post-ers and you, the stupid reader. It's the closest most of you will get to ever posting on the main page yourself, so consider it a great and terrible power that you could use for evil, but will choose to use for good.
With that being said...I think that's it for now. Any addendums I have will be added to the comments section of this chapter.

Nathan Rose - At Large in Downtown Greensboro

A question popped up recently in more or less not these rephrased words: "What would you say you do for the City of Greensboro, Mr. Rose?"
My reply? "I rock."
Other than that, I am the task mule for all things mundane, and often it seems an endless barrage of work is thrown my way. I do some direct work for clients, but my usual tasks consist of creating new map elements to improve the work efficiency for folks around the office. I run copies for my direct boss, but if anyone not in the chain of command asks me to do something, I tell them to "buzz off!" Ok, I really don't in most cases, but there are definitely a few who will not get favors from me, because they are particularly ungrateful and conceivably more pointless than me in the scheme of this department.
I also happen to act as courier, carrying plans between departments for new construction projects around the city, such as subdivisions, cell phone towers, fast food restaurants, and other assorted concoctions of your infidel society.
I do all this because I enjoy it. Ok, I'll admit, it beats about any other job I've ever had to a bloody pulp, except for my summer mowing lawns, which just beat me to a bloody pulp.
Water Resources is 2nd only to rocking out in terms of awesome logical options to make a living in Greensboro. And since I rock out at work, it's really like getting the best of both at times.
Really the only true next step up for me is to get a job making funny amateur videos and make a killing. I'm thinking of starting a franchise called "File Clerks Gone Wild". Give me some feedback on that.

Personal revelations?

I saw Blindside last night.I also had a number of exciting little revelations last night too. SO I want to bring you guys up to speed, because I feel, up until now, I may have beena bit misleading to anyone I talked to regarding my 'summer' and all my experiences post-April.
I have been blessed with an awesome job. Sure, I'd love to be playing music for a living. But if I can't do that, would I love to work for an awesome Water Resources Dept doing what I (academically)do best? Sure. And if I can say this, I do not work for 'the man'. Common misunderstanding...I'm not toiling day in and day out to try to sell people things they don't need, all for the profit of some president or shareholder that I do not know. I'm thankful to God that He's provided me with an awesome job that fits my talent for mapmaking into a situation where I can be onboard with the most vital of municipal services. Second to God, and first in the realm of survival needs, is water. And I am part of the team that provides a clean and abundant water supply to the sometimes unthankful, but nevertheless awesome people of Greensboro. I'm so glad that right now God has me in a place where I am learning skills and making friends, day in and day out, and don't have to work 2 jobs to make a living.
I know people that still do and I mean no disrespect to any hardworking person. I believe that everyone needs to 'do time' in retail or sales or fast food or receptionry as I did. It's not enjoyable but it is a valuable, irreplacable lesson in itself. And since we can't all be lawyers and leech off the industrious effort and hard work of others, and since we can't all be travelling musicians, playing our nomadic anthems to the ears of eager listeners, and since we all can't be presidents of multi-million dollar corporations, puppeteering our vast empires of wealth and capital and meanwhile feeling all the pressure in the world to keep our way of exorbidant life, and since we all can't be Hollywood stars, taking our personal humor or drama to the cinematic table, we just have to simply be. But we cannot give up on the dreams we have or the plan God has for us...especially when those things are in concordance.So, I have my job and take it for what it is: a blessing that is preparing me for things which may or may not come down the line...a wife, children (what I want more than anything else in the world), a housein Montana, and miles of open country to walk till I'm white-haired and wheel-chaired. Let me take my job for what it is and say it is, at the very least, a mode by which I can grow and learn! How exciting to have that opportunity. I should feel so blessed. And I do.
Like Bradley Hathaway, I too am a manly man. I was even more rejuvenated and renewed in my sense of purpose by the speakings of this spindly slam poet than I was by the hardcore anthems of my favorite Swedish band. Bradley Hathaway reminds me of some of the art that came out of the Raleigh scene, long since passed...but more importantly...It's good to be reminded that you're a man. That you have fears, and insecurities, that you have strengths and passions, that you have things that are framed as good and noble intentions, and then you have your dirty secrets. I am all of these things. When you get down to it, being a man is scary. There are too many crazy experiences, things that can break you and forever scar. Few know my own story and I doubt they'd want to hear it. No one knows the whole saga but me and God. And everyone's like this...
I'm celebrating my 'manliness' now. Cause I really don't know where I'm going to be, but I know that the Lord is sovereign and good and that His plan for me, it's gotta be the best of plans, complete with trials and adversities to be challenged with and overcome. I'm not backing down if I've backed down before, and I'm never going to say never for what lies in store for me. I got reminded that right now, age 23...I am young! I've got my whole life ahead of me. It's going to be awesome to see where the wind blows. Because these railroads and the sun overhead, and the hard rains, and the dusty plains, and the open road...Those aren't just things I sing about, honey. Those are dreams I was meant to live.
It's all good...

Double K.O.!

Yes Jess, you win!

Beamon and I have a special kind of love.
A very very sarcastic love.

'boobonautic'

boobonautic: adj. the state of having silly breasts in water. May be used as a descripter for either male or female.
origin Nathanelious Roseious --boob: n. a silly or foolish person, boob: n slang for breast, -nautic; of or relating to aquatics, usually used as a prefix


... and in even 'gaudier' colours, just for you Nathan.

Hiking trip

Hiking trip...2 weeks to a month from now? Some Saturday in August or early September. Whoever wants to go, hit me up. myheroisgone@yahoo.com We'll git'r'done.
I promise this isn't a plot to lure anyone into the woods to be killed by my cannibal cousins.

I do have cannibal cousins though.

Some quick subjects

Jess Beamon, did you pick those gaudy colors for your text? Or is that just my machine totally messing with my mind?

I've got a snippet of something even more ridiculous. Tonight I was tired of my hair looking all wretched and poofed out above my ears, so I attempted to trim things up. Only problem was, I couldn't really see what I was doing, obviously, cause it's my hair. Even with aide of a mirror I managed to take a chunk of hair out on one side that may be both a) noticeable and b) retarded looking.
However, I'm planning on it being neither.
Other problem is I am not sure if I trimmed the back of my head up well enough. I may be looking a bit mullety.
But what the heck. I was gonna shave it off in frustration but I think I'll keep my haircut for a few days to explore the reactions it gets.

Sociological experiment.

In other news, Stephen and I decided that we know where music's at. Then I got inspired and wrote a song. I hope you all like it. It is awesome. It's what I call "lyrical", meaning, I wrote lyrics, unlike most times when I write a "song" and I really mean music, and not even a whole song, just one or two boobonautic whack riffs to stick over generic power chord formations. I'd share the song with you now, only, that would be inconsistent with my quest to be as cryptic of a musician as humanly possible. I am like picasso, in that I am and will be poor in my earthly life, be vastly appreciated only after my death, and I have horrible vision, colorblindness, and due to yet another ocular deformity, no depth perception at all.

Long post, perpetuated.
Word I'm out.

The Bucket is back

Yes ladies and gents, the LB of NC (originally VA) is back. Hopefully we'll be hearing much from him in the coming days, and perhaps, even get to read a listed blog. All you slackers who didn't send him REAL mail can now take the easy way out and send him and e-mail...

john.m.gregory1@us.army.mil


Party on Wayne. Party on Garth.

Top 10 Norse Gods of Warped Tour 2004

Don't accuse me of anything, because I went beyond necessity and sense years ago...

10. Loki - Mischeivous prankster. Loves rocking twinmills in the mosh pit. You'll always see him tearing it up with his Frost Giant minions.
9. Heimdall - Being the guardian of Bifrost, the bridge from Midgard to Asgard, you'd see him bouncing at the front gate.
8. Frigg - Odin's wife, and mother of many. Spotted her at the front gate dropping her kids off.
7. Fenrir - Psychotic giant wolf. They keep him in a cage, he's always behind stage somewhere making noise, and is the source of all annoying feedback, static, and technical difficulties.
6. Bragi - God of poetry and other emo stuff, so you can always spot him chilling with stupid emo kids when he's not running his "assorted nicknacks and pointless articles of overpriced crap" booth.
5. Honir - Tall, wishy-washy god of the Vanir pantheon. What a pointless quality in a "god". Probably why he was hanging around with all the tall kids in the front of the crowd trying to figure out which way he had to sway every 10 seconds to block the short kids from seeing the performance.
4. Thor - He's not in a band, so he keeps on trying to clamber up on stage and rock out drunkenly like he was some sort of Manowar poser. Should have been at Ozzfest in the firstplace, but he's still need to trade in his hammer for an "axe".
3. Vidar - Silent and vengeful god, plotting out how he can get even with Loki and his thugs for mowing him down in the pit earlier and spilling beer all over his princely garb. If he can't get even he'll get his daddy Odin to take care of things.
2. Sif - Being Thor's gal, she's just as crazy, but kind of in a poser-metal-chick kind of way. I think I saw her sluttin' around the merch booths.
1. Odin - The All-Father himself rolled up and was straight chillin'. Being the old guy, he spent most of his day pretending to rock out and "dig" the jams, even though he was fed up having to babysit his own kids all day on the lowly Midgard plane.

Jess is gonna kill me

You asked for it.Well, I supplied it, request or no.
Top Ten Bands Worth Seeing at Warped Tour 2004


10. International Noise Conspiracy
Yes, they're communist, yes, they're political, but compared to some of the guys I grew up with, they're hardly preachy. And they're from Sweden, so they don't know a frag about capitalism's juicy goodness, but I won't hate, they love to rock just like I do. Basically their music is what I love about them and nothing else, though those matching t-shirts they had were pretty svelte. I like to think of them as something akin to a Rolling Stones/Who era throwback band, except unlike the Rolling Stones, they do not write crappy songs, and unlike The Who, they have a resident keyboardist.

9. Bouncing Souls
The Bouncing Souls. I still have one of their albums on vinyl, not because I'm oldschool or even own a record player anymore, just because I am that trendy. I think this may have been the second time I saw them, and it was, as predictable, fast, quasi-catchy, incoherent pop punk. But hey. It makes you kinda want to dance.I have to wonder if The Bouncing Soul's name is some kind of deep, argumentative philosophical statement or perhaps a goofy retort at "the pogo". I'll let someone else decide.

8. The Vandals
If I didn't understand John Gregory before, I certainly would now. The Vandals provide valuable insight on our Army brother, they being his favorite band. Though honestly, I am still just as confused as I was before. All I know is John likes tongue-in-cheek, satirical pop punk wit. And that's alright by me.

7. Coheed and Cambria
See here, sometimes I like music that tastefully imitates great elements of other music. And sometimes, what I like could also be considered tastefully imitating sucky, annoying elements of other music. This may or may not be the case with C and C. (Gonna make you sweat.) They combine the fondness of catchy pop and/ormetal influenced guitar riffs with a lead singer's boisteriously obvious Rush-eqsue vocal work. I can't really determine if I love C and C, but it's hard to think about such things when their beats are just SO FRESH, and their sing alongs are so much more addictive than PCP.

6. Yellowcard
I think I saw this band, but I can't remember. What I do remember was a wall of sound, and in that, the beautiful "caw! caw! Scrreee!" of an electric violin. Electric violins tend to remind me of people that play electric violins, just like pennywhistles tend to remind me of people that play pennywhistles. Despite that, this was a thoroughly awesome experience. Yellowcard consists of a bunch of blatant prettyboys, including the mop-topped, the pseudo-hawked, the braided, and the clean cut. Despite that, this was a thoroughly awesome experience. Yellowcard has tons of great songs. They played some of them.They ended with a subpar tune which for some Godforsaken reason happens to have its own music video. Despite that, this was a thoroughly awesome experience.

5. Bad Religion
I didn't actually see this band. I definitely remember. However, I was walking out the gate near the mainstage as they were playing. They happened to be playing "Sorrow", which is, to all my sadly self-admitted Bad Religion knowledge, the only decent song that they have made since releasing "The Gray Race" album back in 1995. Even that CD as a whole wasn't too great. The point is, Bad Religion sucks, and they are more over the hill than the Beastie Boys, but if somehow you gain the opportunity, watch them so that you can, as I did, muster your own loud guffaw.

4. The Erks
I only put these guys on here because I realized I was running out of bands I actually wanted to mention. These guys really aren't worth seeing, unless they are, as they were yesterday, voicing their gimmick of being from Denmark (the retarded, red-headed stepchild, hillbilly phlegm of Scandinavia). What's funny is their blatant Californian accents, indicating they are blatantly not from Denmark. The Erks played on one of the no-name stages in the hell-pit flea-market corner of Warped Tour. I got to watch them at the same time various booths were intraveinously peddling their wares to my soul.

3. Flogging Molly
What's awesome about these guys is their attachment to the deep roots of their Irish heritage, i.e., alcoholism and Catholicism. Nothing says Ireland more than songs about heaven and hell and drinking well. I absolutely loved these guys, and they wereever more incredible than the last time i saw them. If you haven't heard them, think of what Irish folk instrumentation sounds like sped up to about mach 1, and doused with a heavily-distorted guitar. I realize that may be a completely retarded phrasing. I am my father's son. Top it all off with a pennywhistle, cause hey, we all know... Pennywhistles tend to remind me of people that play pennywhistles, just like hearing good guitarwork reminds me that I am employed at a "real job" not for logic, but because I am a terrible musician.

2. Avenged Sevenfold
Well you knew this was coming. Avenged Sevenfold was by far the most awesome experience I had at Warped Tour since seeing Flogging Molly 20 minutes prior. I opted to miss Story of the Year and Bad Religion, in order to see the only band trying to really put the pulverization into punk and the brutality into BWADOW! With band member gimmick names like "The Rev", "M. Shadows",and "Synyster Gates", cleverly black-dyed hair, twin solos, motorcycle rock solos, and Zack Morris solos, you could almost say Avenged Sevenfold is silly, but I'd have to smack you a bit. Any band that can write a song about how Cain was a dummy for killing Abel, and make its rock factor parallel to that of Welcome to the Jungle just gets props. I know I am about the 700th music critic to make some kind of draw between Avenged Sevenfold and Guns N Roses, but then again, I am cliche and prediction myself, all rolled up in a bun.

1. Huey Lewis and the News
Marking the most celebrated star comeback since Gary Coleman on that hit reality show, Huey and the gang have been undoubtedlybeen turning Warped Tour upside down all summer long, as they did in Charlotte last night. I went to sleep last night with full conviction that it is indeed hip to be square, and that I was one step closer to recognizing the awesome power of love. But that wouldn't be enough to write these guys into the history books of rock and roll legend. I think what did it for them was their success in unfolding the space-time continuum when they went back in time. Huey Lewis and the News always remind me of Back to the Future, and Back to the Future always reminds me of my friend Darryl's cleverly titled concept band known as "Marty McFly and the Faces of Death". If only they had made it past one recording, maybe they too could have been playing Warped Tour this year.