Maturing....

I haven't posted in a billion and a half years so here I am...hoping that I can come up with something interesting to say.

Probably not though, because my brain's working at about ten paces slower than the rest of my body. If I manage to get out of bed at a decent hour my brain is usually still two or three hours behind.

It has to do with the whole squeezing a weeks worth (if not more) of New York City sightseeing into three days thing. It probably also has to do with the VIP status and bottle service we got, to the club tenjune, while in NYC. And it definitely has to do with the 16 hours of running around to the 6 hours of sleep we got....

But I'm not complaining.

I'm just aware of the fact that, if you want to stay sane, you can't EVER do New York in three days.

"You must be crazy or just plain stupid!"
"Stupid is as stupid does..."

New York is one of those places that needs to be lived in or experienced through the eyes of a kid with ADHD.

That place is a blinking, shinning, twirling, speeding, popping, swirling sensory overload and when I go back (to live?) I plan on moving much more ssssssllllooooooowwwwwllyyyy....

Or else...I'll explode.

But I learned something great while there: one nice kid from the Bronx can shatter a whole lot of ignorant illusions I ever had about the dirty, grimy streets of Manhattan.

Like a gem in a puddle of mud or a shinning star in a dark night sky, Alvin from the Bronx was the uplift I needed on that horrible, horrible day.

His presence and momentary friendship gave me a sense of hope that there are truly decent people in this world and that you don't need to look far to find them. When you're 18 and you choose to spend an hour talking to a girl from Toronto (making her feel better as she almost vomits on you for asking "what on earth did you drink?") instead of out screwing around......that makes you a star.

God, my first bitter taste of...what? I'm not sure how to put it......

Well, we all rely on facebook as a way to keep in touch with the people you meet, but when I didn't exchange full names with Alvin and then went away (never to see him again) it dawned on me how significant our meeting really was.

I know I'll ever see him again but that's a bittersweet realization I've come to accept. I'll always remember him, for hist truly admirable character, and that's almost better than any correspondence we might have had over facebook.

No, I'm not in love with him.

But wouldn't it be so An Affair to Remember -ish, if I was?

In other news: out with the old, in with the new! D-Starr Beats, make way for something better......

Reading Archie Comics is like getting broken up with, then engaged and then broken up with again all in about 5 minutes....

I'm an Archie Comics fan and always have been but that doesn't make me any less sensitive to the roller-coaster like and often brutal emotions that the characters go through.

Archie's been around since the 40s and the same formula has been used ever since: boy plays a game of relationship tug-of-war between two beautiful girls, while battling egos with a cocky friend. It's simple, it's nice and sometimes the punch line is actually funny....but a recent reading of a Cheryl Blossom strip has got me thinking:

You know, after all, Veronica Lodge really is a bitch.

See, what happens is Cheryl tries to formulate a perfume that matches her personality and, after finally perfecting it, throws a launch party inviting all the (important) students from Riverdale High. At this fancy shindig Archie, Veronica and Betty complain about how bad the mosquitos are and wonder why Cheryl isn't being bothered....that is until Veronica realizes it MUST be because of the perfume. They proceed to spray it all over themselves and you know what? NO MORE MOSQUITOS! The comic ends with Cheryl telling a news reporter (??) about the embarrassing misunderstanding and Archie, Ronnie and Betty prance off together into the night laughing at poor, humiliated Cheryl.

Everyone knows that if this happened to Veronica she'd just about shit a brick. 


I really think the ONLY Archie characters that have any substance are Jughead and, on occasion, Betty. Jughead is simple, he minds his own business and he stays out of trouble. Betty has a good heart and all she really wants is for Archie to like her.

Veronica is manipulative and selfish and I know that's all very obvious AND part of her character but it's awful that she calls Betty her best friend and then goes around deceiving her. Archie is a coward and a womanizer and it's a little annoying that, in the end, he always manages to get what he wants. Plus he's not really that good looking. And Reggie, well he's a jerk but he usually gets what's coming to him so he's not all bad.

I'll still read Archie Comics but I feel a little tired after I'm done....one minute Archie's taking Betty out for dinner and a movie and the next he's all wrapped up around Veronica....then the next he's taking triplets out on the same date and in the end he's buying Veronica and Betty the same Christmas present to save money.

Stand up guy, eh?