Thursday, December 19, 2019

If you're reading this, you may be confused. Honestly, I'm confused too. Why are you reading this? This is a dead blog. Dead and forgotten. And for good reason. It was not a very good blog. The main premise was to track my progress as I attempted 101 goals in 1001 days. The culmination of which was to take place on October 29, 2010.

Do I need to mention that I did not meet most of these goals?

The rest of the blog served as a personal ranting/bragging/rambling space. My last post was just over 10 years ago, simply recounting the things I had accomplished that day. Riveting stuff. It's also riddled with lazy grammatical issues, please do not scroll down and read it. 

So, why am I here? Why now? Why dust off this decade-old blog for one more post? 

The reason is simple. It's the same reason I have been inspired or encouraged to do many things in my adult life. My friend Joe.

This Christmas, our obnoxiously large college friend group held a Secret Santa and I chose Joe. My initial reaction was one of relief. "Easy," I thought. "I know Joe."

I've known Joe since college. Since before I started this blog. But as I thought about my gift to him, I began to worry. For as long as I have known Joe, I could not think of a single fucking thing to give him. Maybe I was overthinking it. There were some obvious ideas. Mainly related to drinking. But that's so obvious. Joe's a pretty genuine guy. I felt like he deserved a pretty genuine gift.

I wracked my brain for an idea that felt more personal, but I lacked the time and resources for some of my better ideas:
  • A deck of cards where each suit is one of Joe's enemies (PM me for list of enemies)
  • A framed/laminated copy of the Latin Kings rules.
  • PoYB blog swag (tshirts? coozies?)

Then suddenly, inspiration. Maybe I could make something for him. And I could do it in a medium that I know he'd appreciate.

For those not in the know, Joe has kept his blog, the aforementioned Puke on Your Birthday, alive for over 10 years. He posts 
regularly. In the last year, he's even started two new features - one where he encourages his friends to review an album a week and another where he interviews his friends about their favorite movie. 

These two new blog features are so quintessentially Joe. He loves to engage with others. He is constantly encouraging those around him to participate in his ideas. Even if you are hesitant to the idea, whatever it is. When Joe approaches you with an idea, a simple "ah, come on" is all it takes. Not to brag, but I'm listed first on the list of PoYB contributors (alphabetically).

And it's not just blogging. Joe has inspired two of my favorite adulthood adventures:

In 2015, he led a 7-mile pilgrimage to see the Pope when he came to Philly. To be fair, "seeing the Pope" wasn't really the point.  It was about the experience. With inconspicuous soda cans full of Franzia, we set off from Port Richmond to walk the abandoned streets of the city to where hundreds of thousands of worshipers had amassed. I'm not big on crowds, but with Joe leading the way, I was game. 

In 2017, during "Joe's New Summer", before Philly's worst kept secret blew up, got shut down and "trespassing" turned into Trespassing, we spent two lovely afternoons hanging out on Grafitti Pier. The first time, four of us sat in lawn chairs, drinking beers and shooting the shit. The second time, he hosted an end of the summer barbeque. Two perfect summer bookends. 

I could go on, but it's getting close to Christmas and I need to wrap this up (gift pun). 

So, here I am. Writing a tribute to my friend. Writing the most I have written in many, many years, all because of him. He would never admit it, but he's a pretty inspiring guy. 

Merry Christmas, Joe. Cheers! 



And, if you're playing along at home, you should drink for the number of times I said "Joe". 




Wednesday, December 16, 2009

productivity

i dont post much, but i really wanted to brag about how much i accomplished today. and its only 2pm.


-finished and handed in my final draft for fiction writing
-finished and posted my website for web design : www.lasalle.edu/~neffa1/final.html
-finished and handed in my final music project
-officially declared an english minor
-got into the honors film class so i can declare a film minor

all thats left of finals week is:
-write extensive notes for my open note media research class at 2 tomorrow
-study and take my web design final at 5:30 tomorrow
-drink heavily
-pack, clean, leave.

sometimes, when the mood is just right, i rock.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009




Babies dresses as iconic film characters:

From craftster.org. so yes, it's hand made.


From myfirstfail.com. Seriously, this is my new favorite thing ever.

*Edit 12/17*

I need a kid to dress up STAT.



Sunday, September 20, 2009

I had all four of my wisdom teeth ripped from my face on Friday. My original plan had been to find a ride (most likely with Lizconsin) to the oral surgeon and back and spend the weekend hiding out in my room. That way I wouldn't have to lug any of my stuff home (movies, laptop, clothes), I would have a capable support system on hand (Stephan, Liz, A15) and I'd be able to buy myself whatever accommodations I needed before hand (ice cream, soup) instead of relying on my parents for that.

However, (and there had to be a However) I was coerced by my mother to spend the weekend recovering at home. Home is where i receive as little sympathy as possible. Granted, this isn't a real serious surgery. This isn't life threatening or anything like that. But it fucking hurts. A lot. and my mom couldn't even splurge for a second bag of frozen peas to keep my face from swelling.

I've spent most of today fighting back tears because I'm tired, frustrated and in a lot of pain. I held off on my second to last hydrocodone (they only gave me 14, bastards) so I could drive Stephan to the train station.

Stephan, btw, is the greatest person ever. He spent his Saturday night and most of his Sunday lying in bed with puffy-faced me watching Man V. Food and other wonderful netflix goodies. He's my favorite.

But now, I'm stranded in Cherry Hill. I can't drive back to school on the meds (which are pretty shitty meds to begin with), and I'm still too sore and swollen to consider myself healed. And I've got a shit ton of stuff to do this week so it's not like I can take a day or two off. And I hate feeling this shitty in a house where I get shit for feeling shitty.

meh.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Urinetown

The Drinking Game

This is still a work in progress, feel free to comment with new rules.


Drink....

Every time you question a directorial choice
Every time a joke doesn't get a laugh
For every musical number Allison isn't in
For every Nazi reference
Every time Stephan does something vaguely inappropriate
Every time Stephan rides the cherry picker
"H-whaaaaaaa?"
Jazz Hands
Whenever there is absolutely nothing going on on stage.
Every time there's sexual tension between:
-Bobby/Pennywise
-Pennywise/Cladwell
-Bobby/Hope
-Hope/Fipp
-Mcqueen/Cladwell
-Lockstock/Barrell
-Lockstock/Little Sally


Mini-games

Don't Be the Bunny

Everytime Doug says 'bunny', the last person to make bunny ears has to drink

Act 1 Finale

Drink for every new piece of music while Allison sulks in the corner

Thursday, July 16, 2009

TOP 5
lame things that make me happy at work.

or

things that keep me from throwing myself off the 8th stor

(I'm racing against 3mg of melatonin, lets see how this goes...)

5. Staple removers that remove staples in one move, and in one piece. Who keeps buying these brittle staples?

4. Finding a rubber finger thing that fits perfectly AND doesn't make your finger sweat awkwardly.

3. Paper clips that aren't tangled. Its like a fucking barrel of monkeys. Anyone remember that game?

2. Neon mini post-its. They're snazzy!

1. Copy machines that staple AS THEY FUCKING COPY! Technology! It's mind blowing!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

While folding mail yesterday, I started playing the movie game in my head. Pick an actor, name a movie the actor has been in, name another actor in that movie and so on.

I then turned it into the Steve Buscemi game.

Start with Steve Buscemi, name a movie he has been in, someone else in that movie, a movie they have been in and keep going for as long as you possible until you get back to Steve Buscemi again.

The longest I lasted was 78 links.

Then Liz turned it into 6 degrees of Steve Buscemi. She'd text me an actor and I'd try to link them to Steve.

Now I invite you to do the same.

*EDITED BECAUSE I AM A COCKY IDIOT WHO WAS CERTAIN THAT SUSAN SARANDON WAS IN CLUE. GOD DAMN IT. GOD DAMN IT ALL TO HELL.*

http://totallylookslike.com/2009/10/19/susan-sarandon-totally-looks-like-lesley-ann-warren-from-clue/

Example: Tim Curry

Tim Curry
in Clue
with Madeline Kahn
in Young Frankenstein
with Cloris Leachman
in Spanglish
with Adam Sandler
in The Wedding Singer
with Steve Buscemi


Play along at home. We'll start with a classic: Kevin Bacon. I got to Steve Buscemi in 7 links (not counting Kevin and Steve). Can you do better?

Don't use IMDB, that's lame. Use your noodle, what else are you doing with it?