Do Crime!

Recents

  • Movies and Krishna and hardcore and Jesus and joy.

    The title of this post comes from a line by my favorite band The Hold Steady, in their song “Almost Everything.” It’s off of what most of their fans consider their worst album “Teeth Dreams,” yet the older I get, the more this album grows on me.

    The full line is: “Sat in the back of the theater just drinking and talking about movies and Krishna and hardcore and Jesus and joy.”

    This line has been rattling around in my head a lot lately. It brings up a lot of deep, middle-aged despair in my, fueled by nostalgia.

    It brings me back to a time in my life, between 16 and 22, where I spent a lot of nights sitting around with my friends, usually in the back of diners, or Denny’s, parking lots, and riding around in cars, where we just listened to music, and debated religion and politics, talked about our favorite albums and movies and books.

    Now every conversation I have is about money, or chores, or people’s kids. The religion conversations I have now are “you should join my church,” or “just trust Jesus.” These contrast steadily to conversations of old, where we debated the existence of God, talked about Christianity vs Krishna, where the councils of Nicaea held any merit. Political talk today feels the same. It’s “Democrats are bad,” or “Trump is a dictator,” or “ICE is the president’s private militia.” Any yes, I agree with some of these statements, yet they miss any nuance. I miss talking about what politics need to change, how to do it, why tax rates matter, where the money should go.

    I miss having these in depth conversations, where when voices got raised, it was with passion and reason and logic, and not some blind faith to the absurd with no reasoning other than “you’re wrong because you don’t believe me, and I won’t and can’t explain my position.”

  • Hauling all the groceries in, while taking out the trash.

    The title of this post is a lyric from Modest Mouse’s song “Spitting Venom,” from their album “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.”

    I think about this lyric quite a bit whenever I’m doing chores at home. It is just an on going, never ending battle. It’s one of those quiet things that I feel like no one ever talked about when I was growing up, and even now, as adults, while I hear the stupid phrase “adulting” a lot, I feel like I don’t here people talk about how such a motionless activity (to borrow another phrase from the song) doing chores really is.

    Lately, I’ve had this desire to really go through the stuff in my home, and get rid of what’s broken, or unused. Some of it I still have an unhealthy attachment to, for no reason. Some of it, I have truly forgotten about.

    I’ve been slowly going through what I can, and getting rid of odds and ends. Do I really need a plastic walrus that I bought for my desk at a job I had in 2013, and has been shoved inside a tote under my home desk ever since I quit that job?

    Yet, as soon as I let things go, it seems like I’m getting more in it’s place. In the past 2 weeks, I’ve acquired a small shelf, a free weight bench and weights, a sleeping bag, a wire rack, and a motorcycle – all for free. Granted, the motorcycle is temporary, as I offered to sell it for a friend who moved to Texas. Yet, it still feels like I’m stuck in place as I try to cast off things I own, that I don’t use.

    It reminds me of the quote from Fight Club “The things you own end up owning you.”

    I’ll continue to try and declutter, and not let more things in. Until then: Do Crime. (Victimless, non-violent.)

  • You can’t leave, and I won’t go back.

    In December of 2016, I decided to pack up everything I owned, and moved from North Eastern Pennsylvania, to Kansas City. I was 26. I had never been to Kansas City before. I found everything through the internet, reserved my appointment, and received the keys in the mail.

    It remains one of my top 5 life long decisions.

    Having been here for almost a decade now, I’ve had the chance to meet so many awesome people, and try so many things I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do in my hometown. There just weren’t that many options. I do hear from some friends that it’s changing for the better, and other friends still lament your options are alcohol or heroin for a past time.

    Most of my oldest, and closest friends still live back east. Some of them are content, and thriving, while others are just on a continuous downward spiral of doom and gloom. I tell the second group all the time to leave. Of course, I tell them how awesome KC is, but beyond that, I just tell them to pick a mid-size city off the map, not the Chicago/LA/NY/Dallas cities, but the lesser talked about ones, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Raleigh, etc.

    Much to my chagrin, they won’t leave. Can’t leave. On the other hand, I won’t go back. My home is in the Midwest now. I have a house with a yard. A garden. Community.

    I get the hesitation, the fear of the unknown, but I wish they’d do it. Get out and see something other than the same 50 square miles of drunken depression.

    Maybe someday they will. Maybe someday you will.

  • Do your part, to be a part.

    Tuesday was an election day here in KC.

    It wasn’t a big election. It wasn’t a huge turnout. With a city proper of about 500,000 people (based on the “Welcome to Kansas City” sign), there were about 41,000 votes cast for the ballot initiative. My ballot had one question about keeping a tax active, and one choice for a school board position.

    I went out to vote, my wife went and voted on her lunch break from working the election. She’s worked most elections since 2021.

    Every time elections come up, and I think about America, it’s democracy, and all of the rights and liberties we’re given as citizens, it always makes me think about our responsibilities to the country, and our fellow countrymen. I think it’s important to talk about, because we so often don’t talk about them, acknowledge them, or even want them.

    The wife and I are DINKS (double income, no kids.) We’re also home owners (which, I know as millennials is a lucky thing.) I have several friends, and even older family members without kids, or who’s kids are out of the education system, and they complain that their taxes fund education. I, myself was guilty of this kind of thinking at an earlier age in my life.

    Now I realize it’s part of my civic responsibility to make sure we have an educated society. As much as I may not like children, I understand they’re the future of this country. Our doctors, lawyers, nurses, teachers, and politicians. It’s our duty to make sure they receive the best education that they can, their future and my own depend on it.

    Another responsibility that comes with living in America is jury duty. The wife just had her summons a few weeks ago, and I finally got my first one for May. Most people I know bemoan jury duty, and always say something like “tell them you’re racist,” or tell them “I hate cops.” I get the frustration. It’s a whole day, possibly more, where I’m stuck in a room with strangers, making almost no money, and time off from work, where I’m choosing to not take PTO. But, at the end of the day, I know that if I ever have to face a jury of my peers, I want them to look at it the same way that I do, that’s it’s a privilege to serve the community, and it’s residents, and uphold justice. You know, one of the things our country was founded on.

    I can continue on this topic for a while, but I’m just going to leave it where it’s at. You get the picture. Do more. Take pride. Plant food in public parks. Do Crime. I’ll see you on the jury.

  • A Song to Pass the Time

    You ever hear a song, and it just takes you back to a specific time or feeling in your life? This just happened to me this morning on my drive to work. Yesterday, someone gave my wife an old-school punk rock (well, Ska, really) zine. It was about the Bouncing Souls, and Less Than Jake. Less Than Jake is quietly one of my favorite bands, so this morning I queued up Spotify, and damn, if their early albums didn’t take me back to summer break during high school.

    Just endless days of hanging out with my best friends, driving around listening to tunes, hanging out at Starbucks, hanging out in parking lots, basically just being young and care free.

    It’s funny too, where I grew up in North Eastern Pennsylvania, it’s rated as one of the cloudiest parts of the US, but all of my memories seem to be in full sunshine. It seems you
    really do remember things through rose-colored glasses.

    That’s pretty much all I’ve got for today. Listen to LTJ. I suggest the album Borders & Boundaries.