shai

Five months as of today. I decided that since I don't know exactly when my last drink was I'm just gonna say it was on January 5 and leave it at that. Hope everyone's doing good. Had a moment at a show last night, I was having fun and wanted a PBR just because it had been a while and I figured one beer would probably be all right....then I saw the drunk people and thought "Oh, yeah. Right" and the urge went away just like that.

You could say that about any location on Earth. Also, someone who doesn't want to be on the farm will probably be however nice they have to be to get out of there...and vice versa. But once they get what they want, all bets are off. Hopefully they aren't the type to forget a favor.

Judging by how they managed their nuclear stockpiles and other assorted weaponry after the Soviet Union broke up, I'd say they were anything but responsible.

It's pretty simple. Let's say there's a bombing...people die, get buried, friends and family mourn, life goes on. Except now you can't take bottled water or toenail clippers on an airplane and there's metal detectors popping up everywhere...and large groups of cops look more and more like an occupying army than the boys in blue you're accustomed to. Changes like that are conducive to maintaining a certain level of fear to obtain and keep control...I'm pretty sure the government views every large-scale attack as a cloud with a silver lining in this respect. I'm not a conspiracy theorist by any means....maybe I've just read too much, but in the past decade I've seen patterns play themselves out that I don't entirely feel comfortable with. Most people choose not to see them and call me paranoid...that's fine, I don't return the favor by calling them sheeple, but if you know what to look for it's hard to miss.

You know, you're right...the Cheesesteak shop on Divisadero and Post is way better. I think Jay's is hit or miss, usually they do it right but I've had a couple bad experiences there. Spy, skip Jay's check out the Divis spot.

Not in the Mission but Tommy's Joynt on Van Ness and Geary has good American food. El Farolito (see above), Cancun (19th and Mission) and Pancho Villa (16th between Valencia and Mission) are all decent Mexican spots. Jay's Cheesesteak and Serrano Pizza on 21st off Valencia near Lexington do what they do well (don't get the jalapeno poppers at Jay's, though). Ike's and Love and Haight for sandwiches. Kind of out of the loop for bars but my spots were Benders on South Van Ness, Amnesia and Zeitgeist on Valencia, and the Tempest on Natoma (near 5th and Howard.) As far as hookers go, you're on your own. They aren't hard to find though.

That's a good point, and I don't really know...blaming it on the internet and the media is kind of a pat answer. Recently I read a article somewhere about how Gerald Ford's presidency was one of the worst things to ever happen to the US. When he pardoned Nixon he more or less wrote a blank check for every subsequent president to get away with as much dirt as they could because they knew they could get away with it. I think that, on the heels of Vietnam and what happened in the US during the sixties, shook a lot of people's faith in the government/establishment...it started to came back during the Reagan administration then Contragate came along and more or less ruined any credibility he had. Bush 1 was the ex-head of the CIA and started an oil war. Clinton was....Clinton. Same with Bush 2, and now we have Obama who is more or less fucked because of partisanship. So yeah, we're definitely on a bad path, but we're on it because the majority dictated that we want to be on it.

Since I don't know what you're talking about, I'll pass this one off to someone more qualified...

I can put you in touch with the Mutant Fest folks early if you want to get a jump on that. Seems like I end up debating over whether I should go every year and wind up missing my ride there...which is probably for the best. I would probably end up on Weird Dope and fucking the mythical Raver Cougar in a dirty tent somewhere. Speaking of which- despite all appearances this is NOT the "put all the stuff hippie over here" thread. Therefore, for the love of Jehovah God, let us have no more discussion of Rainbow events. I can tolerate the jam band stuff because...well, I don't like it but I don't really know where else it would fit, so I guess I gotta just accept that. But for some of us (namely me) some things- like Rainbow Gatherings- are beyond the pale.

Yep, that would definitely do it. But who would he be playing a set with? If it was, say, the Barenaked Ladies I'd have to jump onstage and choke him out.

Dirty camo shorts Dirty black and grey striped tank top Dirty bandanna Dirt

I don't see why it wouldn't be him...he's either from here or has some pretty strong ties to the Bay, so it's not that big of a stretch. I haven't been to Outside Lands yet and have no plans to go this year. Usually I go catch a day of Hardly Strictly and that fulfills my yearly quota of being in large inebriated crowds.

OH HELL NO

Well, best of luck to you, Brickos. I'd suggest riding whenever the urge comes over you, just not to the nearest bar. Redeye, I think you mentioned once that you work in the restaurant business...if so, it's probably gonna be harder for you to chill out on the drinking without some kind of added support. I'm not one to suggest meetings, but it might be what you need at this point. If you decide to go that route, shop around and find a group you can hang with...I can't promise that it will solve everything but it's worth a shot.

And "Russian" as a descriptive doesn't exactly mean much considering it's the largest country on Earth. Lots of diversity within those borders. Whenever I meet Russians and they find out I'm part Russian they automatically assume I speak Russian, which is kind of silly when you think about it. Then I have to tell them "No, I'm a dumb American, make fun of me all you want" and hopefully leave it at that.

Here's something to consider... With regards to terrorism, which has the greater lasting effect- the act or the response?

But not surprising.

This guy I used to work with in the 90s took the mail order Russian bride route. I was helping him move and he told me all about it...when I saw Walter Sobchak in "The Big Lebowski" I thought "Oh my God, that's Jesse!" Cool guy, definitely Out There but he had apparently went through a lot in Viet Nam. He seemed pretty content, although I wouldn't use that as a reliable guideline.

I have Muslim friends from the Caucasus/Balkan region, and because of some of the stories they've told me I've educated myself a bit about what goes on over there...based on what I know (not much) it's made me wonder why these kids did this. Not in a conspiracy theory sense so much as it doesn't really square with what I've heard or read. I wonder whether this kid will live long enough to tell his side of the story, or if it will ever come out. Either way, it's a tragedy and I feel for anyone affected by this, directly or otherwise.

That settles that, I suppose. When I worked at a health food store it was around the same time ma huang (ephedra) was all over the news...I would tell people we didn't carry it and wouldn't order it no matter what the demand was because it was dangerous, and usually the next question would be "So if you don't have it where can I buy it?" If you saw the people who were asking you'd understand why I'm shaking my head as I type this.

The more pertinent question may be "Have you ever dated a human before?"

Gotta love those milk thistle people. What about not beating the shit out of your body five nights a week? Cutting back to one or two nights would help as well. Reading books about TCM is tricky because most of the English language books on the subject are written by the companies that market the herb compounds, so they aren't exactly unbiased. If you can get some advice from a naturopath or acupuncturist you'll be much better off.

Someone kept offering me shots the other day (they were buzzed and we hadn't seen each other in a while) and I turned them down every time....I don't know who was more surprised, me or them. Now I'm slowly trying to cut out cigs....not as easy due to stress but probably not impossible. Chinese medicine (aka TCM) is good for rebuilding liver function, but some of the herbs are fairly potent and can cause side effects. If you can get some kind of advice before taking them it's usually for the best. Not disagreeing with you, red, but I recommend caution to anyone looking into herbal remedies.

Pissed Jeans is awesome.

I used to drink at least three forties a night just to feel normal. Those were good/bad times.