Too Much Is Never Enough?

I have a lot of interests, which in my case, are actually more like passions, as I pursue them so vehemently. My wife would probably tell you that I have too many interests and that my interests take up entirely too much room in our house. On that last account, she certainly would have a point.

One of my first loves growing up was reading and books are still a big passion of mine. And when I say books, I mean actual books, not files downloaded onto a reading device. I like to hold them in my hand, turn the pages, smell the paper, and I like the way that they look on a shelf. There is a certain feeling of accomplishment when one gets to the end of a book, turns that last page and snaps that cover shut.

However, my bookcase is almost full to bursting, so full that I have a stack of books on the desk in our guest room and another on my night table. So I am realizing that I may yet have to relent at some point in the very near future, and move on to an e-reader of some kind. There is also cost to consider, as the electronic versions of books are at times half the price of the physical version.

Alas, there will ALWAYS be an exception to that for sure, and that is comic books whether they are single issues, trade paperback or hard cover collections, and graphic novels. First off, the price is the same for a physical copy and a digital copy of a new single issue, that’s no bueno. Second off, when it comes to something like art work, you really need to look at it as it was meant to be looked at, on the page. There is no substitute for seeing things the way the artist intended you to see them, which is in ink & paper form. This presents a big problem as I have a big shelf on my bookshelf full of trades as well as the aforementioned piles. This is along with the box of old issues in my attic and the two nearly full long boxes in my bedroom closet. And there are always trades of stories that I missed that I wish to acquire.

The next big obsession in my life is music, I spent years working at Tower Records and Virgin Megastore and making good use of my discounts, both legitimate and of the five fingered variety. I own well over a thousand physical CDs, and they occupy a large wooden spinner in my guest bedroom. Music was an area in which I relented early on, but not for the same reason as I see my imminent caving in on the book front. The iPod presented me with the opportunity to carry around more music than I ever thought possible right in my pants pocket! I could listen to almost anything, anywhere! And for me, the accessibility just could not be beaten. Despite missing the booklets and holding the CD in my hand, I bowed willingly to the mighty iTunes!

While music no longer poses a threat of the spatial variety it is still a threat on the financial front. There are just so many good bands out there if you take the time and make the effort to seek them out. Then when you find them, if you really dig them, you’re not just going to want their current album are you, not if you’re like me, you’re going to want all their albums! It’s almost to the point where I curse audibly upon getting into a new band. It’s hard enough to keep up with releases of bands I have loved for years like Depeche Mode and Alkaline Trio. This is to say nothing of the ridiculous cost of concert tickets with all their surcharges and handling fees! What are you handling? I’m printing the damn things out myself with my own ink and paper! And yet I’ll be attending five concerts in the next 4 months.

Food is another passion of mine, I love to eat it and I love to prepare it. I have a shelf full of cookbooks and I have several binders full of recipes of the familial variety as well as ones printed off the internet. I also have my four binders from culinary school. (I know, back to the overflowing bookcase again!) I love to go to new restaurants of all different varieties from all over the spectrum in cuisine as well as cost. My to-do list on foursquare has 535 places on it! I am fully aware that this is absolutely ridiculous. This fact does not stop me from continuously adding places to said list. However it does drive my wife crazy as I tend to get pissy about going to restaurants multiple times as I would usually rather try new places.

One of my biggest passions is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and I don’t just love to train in the art, I love to study it & live it. I was told by Sensei Matt Serra back when I started that BJJ isn’t just an art, it’s a lifestyle, and man was he right! I have many, many books on the subject (BOOKCASE!), DVDs, T-shirts, hoodies, and grappling mats in my garage. This flows into my love of the UFC and the tons of DVDs/Blu-Rays of theirs I own and the amount of their programming that is monopolizing my TiVo. Not even considering the amount of money I have spent ordering their PPVs!

And I haven’t even discussed my love of film or stand-up! Though to be fair my wife has pretty successfully weaned me from owning films and stand-up performances to just watching them via Netflix. And I do download a lot of stand-up albums onto my iPod.

OK, so if you’ve made it this far, I am sure you’re wondering where the hell I am going with this, aside from prattling on and on about my interests and how much space and money they’ve cost me. The point is, I’m still not satisfied or “done” collecting. There are 120 books on my Amazon Wish List, there are always new bands & comedians to discover and old favorites keep dropping albums, as previously mentioned there are 535 places on my foursquare to-do list, prominent BJJ instructors including my own will keep releasing books and DVDs, and the UFC will keep putting on events.

This is where my head begins to spin, why do I have such an insatiable need for content? I finish a book and I immediately want to start another one. Before I am even finished reading my weekly new comics I am looking to see what releases are coming out the next Wednesday. I already read too many monthly titles and consistently get swept up in new ones! I am constantly adding things to my Amazon list despite it being way too long and ridiculous as it is! I read Rolling Stone and SPIN to stay current in music & I am always on the lookout for concert updates! I repeatedly search cooking web sites for recipes and lifestyle sites for dining suggestions. I just bought a new BJJ t-shirt the other day and look forward to every UFC event notification. Why am I so…obsessed? And is it a bad thing to be so?

I just cannot get enough of these passions of mine and yet I have to tell you, and I am telling you true, all of these things pale in comparison to my love for my girls. My Mrs. and my 14 year old daughter, now can you even imagine how much I love them? Nope, I didn’t think so. Until next time, thanks for stopping by.

The Weekend That Was

This weekend was a good one, but one that went all too fast, all the same. You know that actually makes me laugh to myself a bit, the idea of the weekend going by so quickly. Of course it goes by quickly, what are we comparing it to, the rest of the week? Of course the weekend ended as it usually does, with me lamenting the fact that we all spend so much more time at work than we do out of it, or seemingly so.

Friday night was a quiet one at home, I made some beef tacos and my Mom joined us for dinner. Saturday I dropped the little one off at religion and then headed off for some no gi training with Team Serra. Fantastic class with Monsta and Crazy Eddie taking the helm due to the usual suspects being off at the Renzo Gracie Invitational, Monsta’s warm up was intense! Side steps to the inside, sprawls, pushups, and sprinting. We then worked on defending strikes from above while holding your opponent in your guard and transitioning from there into a Kimura. We also did some feet on the floor matches with time limits. Monsta was encouraging us to finish our opponents and continually reminded us that we do not get decisions. This of course was a calling back to the injustice that was Master Sensei Matt Serra’s fight against Matt Hughes in May. And little did I know it was foreshadowing for later on that night!

Saturday night was a good time as I was joined by training partners Chris Brady and Andrew Frisa and Andrew’s brother Peter for UFC 104 at my place. We enjoyed some chips, Buffalo Chicken Dip, and BBQ chicken pizza along with Diet IBC Root Beer for me and well….regular beer for them! However, a slight damper was put on the evening due to what we felt to be a hugely erroneous decision in the main event. We all had thought that Mauricio “Shogun” Rua had clearly defeated Lyoto “the Dragon” Machida for the UFC Light Heavyweight Title however, the inept judges apparently thought otherwise giving Machida the victory via unanimous decision. Total miscarriage of justice in our opinion as Machida clearly sustained the most damage as his legs were incredibly bruised and his face was clearly busted up. Plus Rua clearly landed more shots in the fight and was dominant. I guess the judges at the Staples Center saw otherwise. Either that or, as usual, were boxing judges who don’t know a damn thing about MMA. UFC President Dana White is well known to say that fighters should never let fights go to the judges, because this is the kind of thing that can happen. White was also quoted as saying that he believed Rua had won the fight, and that a rematch would be the next fight for both men.

Sunday I had to drop Lyric off at her mother’s place early as they were attending a surprise party that afternoon. I headed home from that and got an early start on the laundry. Erin was out doing some birthday shopping for her nephew with her Mother and while they were gone I took the opportunity to make some oatmeal cookies, one of her favorites, for Erin. When Erin returned home we tried to figure out a good plan for the day ended up driving into Forest Hills and then hopping the subway into the Village.

We walked around for a while trying to decide on a spot for an early dinner and ended up settling on a place called Murphy & Gonzalez Pub and Cocina (http://www.murphy-gonzalez.com/). The food was very good however we both later regretted that we seem to be falling into a bit of a rut lately whenever we dine out. Always going for the safe bet (pub food, Mexican, Italian, Chinese, etc.) instead of trying different and more diverse fare. We realized while we were eating and also once we had finished and walked around a bit more, spotting several interesting restaurants. Erin had said that at the time she had thought we should eat quickly because she thought that I was really hungry, however I thought that she was just in the mood for the type of restaurant we ended up at. So, a little miscommunication there but not a big deal as we did enjoy the food that we ate, just a reminder to not always assume.

We continued our walk around the Village and grabbed some Starbucks and then checked out Urban Outfitters. A few coats in there that Erin liked but not at the prices they were asking for. We then ended up at this little café for more coffee! Man, the guy in there was such a tool box. Listen, I understand that working in these cafes probably sucks, but hey pal, I didn’t force you to get a job there and neither did my wife. We are both big time “please and thank you” people and don’t deserve your snotty attitude. He literally shoved our coffee and tea at us! Then when Erin asked for a fork he said “They’re over there.” Pointing to where the sugar, milk, and etc. were. Erin walked over looked around, no forks. She came back and asked again, he repeated his sentence again in an even snottier tone to which Erin replied with a smile “I’m sorry, I don’t see them, am I missing them?” of course he got a look on his face like Erin shit in his cornflakes as he went over to look. “Oh, sorry about that, let me get you one.” What a fucking tool box.

After our coffee and tea we headed back to Forest Hills, picked up the car and headed home. The Giants horrific loss to the Cardinals was broken up by a great new episode of Dexter. Awesome performance in this episode by Jennifer Carpenter as Det. Debra Morgan and John Lithgow continues to be awesome in his role as the Trinity Killer. However Julie Benz continues to rub me the wrong way in her portrayal as Dexter’s wife Rita. She comes off as an annoying, nagging, shrew when I am sure that I am SUPPOSED to be sympathizing with her. Of course Michael C. Hall is phenomenal as always in his role as Dexter Morgan. Meanwhile the Giants infuriated me with their second piss poor effort in a row. They really need to get their shit together if they’re going to challenge in the post season.

And here we are at Monday again, I’m back at work and the Mrs. is still stuck on the Grand Jury. Meanwhile I’m wishing I was either home with her or on the mats at Serra. I also have some lyrics floating around in my head. Hopefully something will come of them. I finished the fantastic “A Mad Dash” by Henry Rollins this weekend and I am now again without a book. The new issues of Rolling Stone and Spin will help to get me through the commute for now.

Well, I babbled on far too long again with nothing of much importance to say I’m afraid. Ah well, anyone who stumbles upon this blog should know what to expect by now. Until next time, be well.

Long time, no blog

I know it has been an extremely long time since I have written anything. And it isn’t that I haven’t had anything to discuss, plenty of things going on right now for sure. Erin and I spent a week in Ireland in May and had a fantastic time. I earned my third stripe in Jiu-Jitsu and took my first advanced/no gi class. I have been motoring right along in Muay Thai class. And there was the sudden passing of the Japanese legend Misawa on January 13 and my attendance at ROH’s Manhattan Mayhem III on the same day. The release of several new albums I was anticipating: Crossing the Rubicon by the Sounds, Battle for the Sun by Placebo, and Back and Forth by Pete Yorn. I also had to endure my first Father’s Day without my beloved Father. So, yes, there has been plenty to talk about.

I have contemplated starting one of these quite a few times since we returned home from Ireland and yet I haven’t written a thing. I think there are several reasons for this. The first being that I have just been extremely busy, I am training three times a week: Tuesday night is beginners Jiu-Jitsu, Thursday night is Muay Thai, and Saturday afternoon is advanced/no gi Jiu-Jitsu. I also get up at 5 AM every morning to get in some cardio before work with additional exercises on the days I’m not training. Factor into that a full time job, a daily commute that takes 90 minutes each way, a lovely wife, and a fantastic daughter and you can see that my “free time” is pretty limited.

Another reason is that I really wanted to make this blog completely uncensored. Yet I am realizing that this is a complete impossibility. Anyone can Google anyone nowadays and along with that comes the ability to check up on activities such as blogging. I don’t believe in hiding or that there is any strength in blogging anonymously. Anyway can be brave behind a mask and without consequences, I like to stand behind what I say so that’s not an option for me. However, I do have a family to take care of, and they come before my freedom to mouth off across the internet.

Anyway, on with the blogging and this one is going to be a corker! As one of my Father’s Day gifts I received A Dull Roar: What I Did on My Summer Deracination 2006 by Henry Rollins. I was extremely excited to receive this as I am a HUGE fan of gold old Hank and own and have read and re-read all of his books (well, except for Roomanitarian which I own, started reading, and for whatever reason, didn’t get around to finishing, but I will once I finish this one, though I will have to rescue it from its cardboard tomb in the attic.)

As is always the case with missives from Hank, I totally and completely love the shit out of this book. This book is a collection of journal entries from back in 2006 and I absolutely love how after every entry he catalogs what he ate that day as well as his work outs. Somewhere along the line old Hank became a quasi vegetarian (he still eats fish, eggs, and dairy) which totally surprised me as I remembered earlier books where he mentioned his cupboards only containing beef chili and him making fun of vegetarians as recently as his spoken word CD Think Tank which came out back in 1998. Hank is also apparently a big fan of carrot juice, cream cheese bagels, sesame bars, and ice bars. This is a great read and Henry’s dedication to his work is simply staggering. I am happy to report that I am as big a fan of his as ever. I am definitely going to need to upload all my Rollins spoken word CDs onto my iTunes so that I can throw them onto the old iPod. And I would love to get Talk Is Cheap Vols. 1-4. I am also really looking forward to his next book, A Preferred Blur: Reflections, Inspections, and Travel in All Directions which will be released on August 1, 2009.

Moving on! I have quickly come to realize that I have become much more comfortable being alone than I was in years passed. I went back and read a lot of old journal entries and they reminded me, not that I needed much reminding, how much I used to hate being alone. I seemingly never, ever wanted to be left to my own devices. I know that a great deal of that had to do with my self esteem issues and my crippling need and desire for everyone I met to like me. Nowadays I have no problems at all with time to myself. And I have plenty to do with that time when I have it. Be it reading, catching up with DVD watching or the occasional quality time with my PS3!

I know that in the past, not here, but other place I have addressed the “who shit in your cereal” issue before but it could definitely use another go around. Look, I’m not the type of dude who walks around with a huge goofy smile on his face all the time; it’s just not my natural expression. However, I also don’t walk around looking like someone raped my dog with a red hot poker. There are several people I see in my daily travels who constantly wear the “someone took a big dump in my cornflakes mask” and it’s fucking ridiculous. This one woman, I see her at least 2 or 3 times a week, always looks at me like I punched her wheel chair bound great-grandmother in the face or something. I don’t even know this woman! And yet I often find her staring at me with that look upon her face, I just want to close my book, pull out my ear phones, walk over to her, and say “may I help you?” People need to just chill the fuck out and get over themselves.

I had an interesting conversation with some of the upper belts after no gi class on Saturday. We were all talking about how grateful we were to train where we did and to have the instructors and training partners that we had. One of the guys mentioned despite the fact that we were located on Long Island, not one “typical Long Island douchebag” could be found among us. Now, if you don’t know what he was referring to, I suggest you check out either Roosevelt Field or the Source Mall and cruise around for a bit. You know the guy, polo shirt, blow out hair cut, sunglasses that your girlfriend should be wearing. He surmised that this was due to the fact that these were the type of guys who would rather talk about fighting, than do it. I bunch of us also joked that you should have had to either been tapped out or tapped someone out at least a few times before you could wear a TapouT t-shirt. I suggested that perhaps a screening at check out followed by a quick lesson in Jiu-Jitsu prior to purchase would be a fun idea! I kiid I kiid!

Monster then let us know that a majority of the guys he has come across who train in MMA really are not looking to be true Martial Artists and can be complete assholes. However at our academy, people are looking to learn the Martial Arts and are friendly, helpful, and respectful. I cannot stress enough how luck I am to train with such a great group of individuals.

Alright, I think I have rambled on long enough for one installment. I hope that you enjoyed reading and I will try not to go so long in between entries. Take care and keep your head up.