I'll carve out my lungs and it's all just to see you again
I'm sick in my gut from the poison I drank to forget

So tomorrow is advising day at my community college , and i'll find out if i'm still on the right track towards getting my AA there on time. A lot of people say that community colleges are two-year colleges, but for many people, it takes them more than two years to get their AA. You have to work pretty hard to get that all done in two years.

So next semester might be a bit of a rush. That's okay, because my math and english classes will be complete by then. Math really holds me back. I know I still need to take two more science courses, but my english, history, math, arts, and government classes are all out of the way. Even if I can't get everything done by the end of the summer course semester, I'll go to a community college up by UNI to get my AA completed. I'm really tired of living in the QC, and I need a change. I need to get out of here and start living on my own with my friends.

I'm also tired of sharing stuff with my sister. I have a twin sister so we've always shared everything. The thing that bothered me the most was that we have to share a car. I drive it the most and do a lot of the work on it myself, but its never there when either of us need it. I really really hate that...but my parents told me they'd buy me a car when I move out if I sell one of my motorcycles. Thats pretty awesomely fair, but I need to step up the progress on the Suzuki.

Long story short, my goal is still to be out of the house a year from now. If I need to finish my AA at a comm. college up in CF/Waterloo, so be it. I have two other friends that are hell-bent on getting out of the QC to get new jobs and new schools and new friends next year. I'm going no matter what.

I love my house, but I think it's time for a change. I'm 20; I should start getting ready to leave the nest.

Tonight I'm seeing Bayside for the fifth time.



Its at a venue in Poplar Grove that I've never been to before. I know Alkaline Trio played there back in June...maybe it'll be the next great (closer) venue, besides The House Cafe in DeKalb...I love that place. I don't exactly feel like driving for two and a half hours...its like driving to Bolingbrook, but I generally avoid I-88 whenever I can because of tolls and because 88 is the most boring road in Northern Illinois. But its for tradition and for Bayside, so I can do it.

I see Bayside about three times a year. Its slowly becoming a tradition of road trips, great music, and chicken salad. I love these times

and i really feel old.

like...

"shit, i've been around for 20 years!"

i didn't feel old when i turned 19. i was still a teenager. i'm no longer a teenager. get off my lawn!

19th and 20th birthdays are lame.

next year will be awesome.

i can't wait to get out of here and get up to UNI :D

one more year.

i can do this.

Colorado was beautiful, and I wanna go back again!
The ride over there was okay, except for the weather.

We first went over to Iowa City (in the rain), then down to N. Missouri and went west across the state, then worked our way into Kansas and stopped in Topeka for the night. After a creepy stay in a Motel 6 (eegh), we crossed the entire state and stopped in Oakley, near the KS/CO border. After leaving Oakley and nearing the border, we ran into an awful windstorm, which was part of the same cells that gave Denver's suburbs a few tornados earlier in the day. We braved 55+mph winds and rode at an angle for 20 minutes because there was absolutely NOWHERE to stop. We were really out in the boonies, so we kept going until we reached our destination city, Cheyenne Wells, CO. We stopped in a little motel there that was extremely biker-friendly (even offered to take our bikes inside away from the weather!) I really liked that little town. It was really quiet and everyone was super friendly, and it...just wasn't Iowa, I suppose.

We then kept pushing through Colorado until we reached CO springs and got lost downtown for awhile. We found our little hotel thing in Manitou Springs and met up with the Lemans America vintage Suzuki motorcycle club that we belong to. Later on in the evening, we went to the "Flying W" ranch, where we were served some old-style "cowboy food" that consisted of barbecue beef, a biscuit, homemade apple sauce, spice cake, baked potato, etc. and we saw a kinda cheesy country comedy show thing. i guess its pretty famous out there or something.

The next few days, my dad showed me around town and showed me all the places where he used to live. He felt kind of bad because his neighborhoods all turned to shitty, seedy places...oh well, it happens. It happened to my first neighborhood too, so I didn't care.

Soon, he took me into the mountains and hills where the roads ended and we took the bikes where they really shouldn'tve gone...potholes and unlit tunnels galore. My little Honda really took a beating out there, I kinda regret doing that...

The most beautiful ride was out near Breckenridge, where we went up to the Continental Divide at Hoosier Pass (roughly 12,000 feet) and our bikes performed even worse haha...mine was still stronger than my dads Suzuki, though. bahah

The ride home was absolutely gorgeous. I felt like I was in Europe or something, the mountain views were beautiful, and the air was clean. I really wish I could live up there, I loved it...

Then we visited the Royal Gorge, which was okay...we got hailed on in a canyon ride, that kinda sucked.

Then it was time to go home, and my butt made it all the way through Nebraska. What a long ride! I don't want to ever do that again. We stopped in Lincoln for the night and went all the way through Iowa the next day to the East Central side, where I live. The ride across Iowa on I-80 wasn't as bad as i thought it would be...I've done that ride over 20 times in my life because I visited my grandparents in South Dakota every year, so it wasn't anything new. My starter on my bike went out in west Nebraska, so I had to be bump-started (pushed and shoved into gear after enough motion) all the way home, which was a bummer. Starter was eventually fixed when I got home, so its all good.

I don't really have time to go into every detail, but I had a great time!
2500 miles on a 30 year old bike in 7 days without any major problems.
I did it :)

oh yeah, here's a picture.

Tonight. Iowa City.

Be there or be fucking lame!!!



Update-
Setlist: (that i can remember...sorta out of order)

My Friend Peter
Cooking Wine
Cringe
Burn
Calling All Skeletons
Sadie
One Hundred Stories
All On Black
Fatally Yours
If We Never Go Inside
Continental
New Unreleased Track- Dan
New Unreleased Track- Matt
Cover Song
Donner Party
This Could Be Love
I'm Dying Tomorrow
Lost And Rendered
Every Thug Needs A Lady
Radio

Great show!
:D :D :D

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