Octoberfest, Rollergirls, Crackheads, and the Nudie Bar

So last night was a weird Saturday. A friend and I went to Louisville's Volksfest, a German influenced festival resembling a mini-Oktoberfest. The beer was excellent.

As night fell and the entertainment got a little boring for me, we wandered over to Derby City Expresso for a fundraiser for Bad Penny of the Derby City Roller Girls. Upon arrival, we ran into another friend who was politely escorting an angry and verbose crackhead from the premises. My HR Guy/Parent/Peacemaker instinct kicked in and I ended up trying to calm down this asshole. I took his constant insults for about 30 minutes (to whit: I was a spoiled rich redneck, all the DCE patrons were white fags, I should respect him because he was in the Marine Corps and had a psychology degree from Old Dominion and he can fuck with me head, he hates all races, but loves Jesus and the way his Momma raised him, I need to stop pointing at him and bulshittin, etc, etc). Eventually he asked me to follow him down the block cause he, "...wanted to show me something." I walked down about 20 feet from the crowd but kept them in sight. That's when mister badass crackhead started begging me for for $25, because, "...that will help me and my baby mama until Monday." So I told him, "I can get you a job." And I can. I'm a well connected HR professional in this town and I know people that will hire people like him. As soon as he realized I wasn't going to give him cash, he started up with the insults again and so I finally broke the nice-guy attempt and just threatened to kick his ass. He rapidly fled south from there, but I kept thinking about the guy all night and into today. He wasn't the stereotypical long-time downtown crackhead that you may be imagining. He was one of these addicts that has fallen a long way in a short time. I actually believe his claims that he was an educated Marine Corps veteran by the way he said things (as crack-addled as they were), but somewhere fairly recently, his life went to shit.

So we had a few more beers at DCE, which has a kickass selection of beers (a coffee house AND a bar? YES!), and decided to end our evening at the nudie bar 1 block down the street.

The Annual Cost-of-School Rant

The boy just started his sophomore year in sigh school. For those of you without the younguns, this is the basic, very minimal dollar outlay to get ONE Louisville public school sophomore ready for school:

$156.00 - Misc school fees. For example, Foreign Language - $15, English - $4, AP Classes - $30, etc, etc

$196.00 - Basic School Supplies

$60.00 - Partial school clothes shopping

$50.00 - First school lunch check

Total = $462

I originally wrote a long diatribe on backwards incentives and retarded fee structures, but I deleted it because it was too whiny.

I don't know about your school days, but I can recall many years when a trapper keeper, 7 folders, pens, pencils, notebook paper and a backpack were all I needed for school.

If It Ain't One Thing...

It's another. This last few days have been a whirlwind of karmic swings...a small roller coaster of good and bad. That's a lifestyle in which I don't function very well. In fact I strive to keep my life relatively free of hi and low drama; but that wasn't in the cards the last few days.

Down - I started my new job. It is very challenging, and within my capabilities, but it's not what I expected it be. In this economy I am grateful for gainful employment though. And I'll leave it at that due to the Great Lesson of Dooce.

Down - I played phone tag with a guy all week to buy a 1973 Honda CB350 for the Ladyfriend. We agreed to meet Thursday night and he told me that I would have the first look and first bid on the bike because I was the first to call him. On the way to his house, 5 minutes after he called me to come over, he called my cell phone and told me, "Uh, dude, some other guy came by and bought the bike before you...sorry, click."

Down - I keep fish (the second generation of Shubunkin goldfish I've raised since 2000) in a small pond in my back yard. The pond pump went out, which happens every few years, so I bought a new one, drained the pond, cleaned it, refilled it, de-chlorinated it, and replaced the fish. Something went awry though as the next morning ALL 9 of the fish were dead. I threw their dead carcasses far back in the yard only to have my dog Happy retrieve them, eat them, and then roll around on their stinky remains.

Down - The cable modem crapped out and the cable guy refused to come in the house with only the boy around (we were at work) so we had to reschedule.

Up - Things are looking up. We find a second, better motorcycle on craigslist for the same amount, but it is 9 years newer then the previous one, has less miles (9000) on it than my 2003 motorycle (11000) and is in wonderful condition considering its age. I take it for a ride, haggle a few bucks off the top price and drive it away. This is not an actual picture of her new bike, a 1982 Honda CB750F Super Sport, but it looks exactly the same.



Up - Things are still going good. Me, the boy, and some good friends go to Cave City for Ladyfriend's birthday weekend/extravaganza. I counted no less then 15 ceramic-wizard-statues-hoisting-onyx-orbs.

Up - The cable guy shows up at a relatively normal time and replaces the cable modem.

Down - The boy used my bike (because his was stolen a few years ago when he left it out in the open) to run up to Walgreens and left it outside when he returned to the house. It was stolen this afternoon. We though we saw an old truck with my bike in the rear so I chased after it on Ladyfriend's new motorcycle (which is faster from 0-60 than my cruiser). I didn't catch him, but I did haul some serious ass down Grinstead Drive.

So now I'm blogging to chill the fuck out. I'm also debating whether to auction off the boy's X-box 360 as punishment and/or to recoup the cost of one stolen bike.