Sexy Legs

I am the proud owner of four tickets to see the Cubs at each of the following. Gonna be a great summer.

• Sunday, April 3, 1:20 - Pittsburgh Pirates
• Monday, April 18, 7:05 - San Diego Padres
• Saturday, April 23, 12:05 - Los Angeles Dodgers
• Tuesday, May 24, 7:05 - New York Mets
• Wednesday, May 25, 7:05 - New York Mets
• Wednesday, June 15, 7:05 - Milwaukee Brewers
• Sunday, June 19, tbd - New York Yankees
• Friday, July 15, 1:20 - Florida Marlins
• Sunday, July 24, 1:20 - Houston Astros
• Sunday, August 21, tbd - St. Louis Cardinals
• Monday, September 5, 1:20 - Cincinnati Reds
• Wednesday, September 21, 1:20 - Milwaukee Brewers

Judged the LFHS talent show auditions today. Incredibly hungover.

Quite possibly one of the most enjoyable and ridiculous experiences of my life.

Based solely on photos and the limited information, I am currently considering:

Here: Pros - Good Sized, Red Line, Doorman, Covered Parking, Lake, Commute from LF. Cons - Commute to work (kinda), Semi-exciting Neighborhood, Weird Closets in Bedroom, OK Kitchen, Some Carpet

Here: Pros - Very sharp looking, Very Hip/Fun Neighborhood, Nice Kitchen, Commute to Work (kinda), Dedicated Parking Spot, In-Unit Laundry. Cons - Blue Line, Tiny Bedroom Window?, Commute from LF, Parking Uncovered, Some Carpet

Here: Pros - Red Line, Backyard (somebody mow that lawn), Looks Spacious, Commute to LF, Proximity to Metra, No Carpet, Pretty Good Neighborhood. Cons - Eww Ugly Fridge, Commute to Work (kinda), Not as Modern, Street Parking

There are other places that caught my eye, but those were the few that immediately piqued my interest. Probably will email realtor tomorrow/Wednesday.

I’m opposed to New Year’s Resolutions. I believe that if there is something that you want to change or improve, you should being working on it right away instead of waiting for some future day.

That said, the changing of the year does provide a valuable benchmarking opportunity. It is easier to mark time and reflect by year than any other arbitrary date. By all accounts, 2010 was a horrible year for me, and I am not sad at all to see it go. By the time 2012 rolls around, there are a number of things I hope to improve in my life, to go along with some fun that will certainly be had along the way.

So, without further adieu, here’s my list of “Things I Want to Continue to Work On and Things I’m Excited for in 2011” (doesn’t roll off the tongue as well as Resolutions, I suppose)

1. Become emotionally healthy
2. Relearn to trust others
3. Regain some, but not all, of my former confidence
4. Manage my anger better
5. Enhance my personal friendships and relationships
6. Contiue as a role model for my brother and a pillar for my family
7. Moving downtown in February/March
8. Getting back to Europe in March/April
9. The Quinn-Eckelmann wedding in July
10. Buying a car sometime between May and August
11. My growing role and responsibilities at work over the course of the year

I feel like I should update this thing. Reply with a topic or question and I’ll give you 500* words.

note: give or take 499

On this, my 24th Thanksgiving, I have realized that I am thankful for many things in life. Of them all, however, the one that stands out is hip hop collaborations.

At least that’s what I told myself when I sat down at my tv tonight. Dinner was done, the family was in bed, I was beer & wined up. Perfect time to toss on Fuse’s Top 20 Hip Hop Collaborations. I kept a running diary of the event, with music videos and lovely commentary for all to enjoy.

• 11:59pm - First thing’s first. They just called them “collabos”. Hopefully this sticks throughout the entire show. Also, Forgot About Dre better make the top three or I will never watch Fuse again. Which would pose major problems to my livelihood.
• 12:01am - #20 - Young Money - Bedrock - Obviously a very solid start. This song was my introduction to the lovely Nick Minaj, quite possibly the greatest female rapper ever.
• 12:03am - There’s a gawky, lanky white guy in this video. Certainly didn’t expect that.
• 12:04am - Gudda Gudda has an excessive amount of tattoos on his torso. I just tried finding a picture on google images, but apparently he isn’t nearly popular enough to have topless pictures online.
• 12:06am - #19 - Nelly, P Diddy, & Murphy Lee - Shake Ya Tailfeather
• 12:08am - Diddy is sporting a Brazilian soccer jersey. I guess that’s gangsta.
• 12:10am - #18 - Juvenile feat. Lil Wayne & Mannie Fresh - Back That Azz Up. I think I just realized just how great this countdown is going to be. What a solid start… This video has some unbelievable booty shaking in it. Hopefully it wasn’t censored for tv.
• 12:11am - It’s not. Nice.
• 12:12am - Lil Wayne was 17 when this song was released. When I was 17, I was a secondary character in our school play. Tom = Lil Wayne?
• 12:13am - #17 - Keri Hilson feat. Timbaland - Return the Favor. Honestly I’ve never heard this song before. Timbaland always has tight beats, but I can’t imagine it’s a top 20 collabo of all time.
• 12:16am - It’s not. If they’re going to pick Timbaland and Keri Hilson, why not The Way I Are?
• 12:18am - #16 - Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell - Beautiful. Back on track. There are lots of thongs in this video.
• 12:19am - I’m 95% positive that Snoop has a Priest Holmes jersey on. That’s so baller.
• 12:21am - #15 - Ludacris feat. T-Pain - One More Drink. Never loved this song, but I’ve also never seen the video. Luda usually has solid videos, so it’s definitely worth a chance.
• 12:23am - Miniature T-Pain, grenades left and right, literal beer goggles. Thank you Ludacris. Thank you.
• 12:24am - #14 - Flo Rida feat. T-Pain - Low. This song always reminds me of Dr. Kristin Bennett, a hot young professor in Wake’s education department. I had her my second semester senior year when this song was huge. One class, she spent about fifteen minutes talking about how she heard this song on the radio. I wanted to jump her.
• 12:26am - I guess this song came out before Flo Rida was ridiculous jacked. He certainly has guns here, but they’re nothing like his / my pythons.
• 12:27am - I hope that Kristin finds this tumblr, figures out it’s me, and asks me on a date.
• 12:29am - #13 - T.I. feat. Rihanna - Live Your Life. Given how insanely popular this song was, I’m a little surprised it didn’t crack the top ten. Love the song. Love T.I. Love Rihanna. She’s definitely in my top ten.
• 12:31am - WHOA DOMINOES
• 12:35am - #12 - 50 Cent feat. Snoop Dogg & G-Unit - P.I.M.P. I was never the biggest fan of this song. But holy Moses there are some sexy ladies in lingerie in this video.
• 12:37am - There are probably 75 girls in this video who are at least an 8.5 out of 10.
• 12:42am - #11 - Terror Squad feat. Fat Joe & Remy - Lean Back. Great song. Too bad Remy fell off the map, she had some flow.
• 12:44am - I just looked up Remi on wikipedia. Apparently she fell off the map BECAUSE SHE SHOT SOMEBODY. I guess that’s justified.
• 12:46am - #10 - Drake, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Eminem - Forever. A true collabo right here - exactly what this list is about. The video features LeBron being a dbag, but whatever.
• 12:52am - #9 Puff Daddy feat. Faith Evans - I’ll Be Missing You. I’m going out on a limb and predicting that Diddy will be the only artist who appears on this list with two different names.
• 12:54am - I forgot how ridiculous this video is. A shot of Puff falling off a motorcycle while dressed in all black. Another shot of Puff rapping in all white while on the walkway at O’Hare from Terminal B to Terminal C. Really? O’Hare?
• 12:55am - “Missy Elliot leads a school full of hip hop stars, next on the top 20!” Excuse me while I puke.
• 12:56am - #8 Missy Elliott feat. Ludacris - Gossip Folks. I forgot this song existed, which is probably for the best. I LOATHE Missy Elliott. Easily my least favorite female rapper.
• 12:57am - Stop trying to dance, Missy. You look ridiculous in your oversized blue jump suit.
• 12:58am - EVE SIGHTING IN THE BACKGROUND
• 1:00am - #7 - Usher feat. Ludacris & Lil John - Yeah. This is a great song and an even better video. Luda’s verse is unbelievable. Urrsher has disgusting dance moves. And, of course, there are some lovely ladies.
• 1:01am - Plus there are tons of laser lights. You know you’re getting some when there are laser lights.
• 1:04am - #6 - Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx - Gold Digger. Amazingly, I don’t even consider this one of Kanye’s twenty best songs, especially with the release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Basically the perfect party song, though.
• 1:08am - #5 - Snoop Dogg feat. Dr. Dre - Nuthin’ But A G Thang. It would have been a crime if this didn’t make the list. One of the original great collabos.
• 1:12am - #4 - Notorious BIG feat. Puff Daddy & Mase - Mo Money, Mo Problems. This list suddenly got old school.
• 1:13am - Diddy is dancing like a doofus in this video. Diddy is also a golfer. Way before Tiger was popular. What foresight.
• 1:17am - #3 - Jay-Z feat. Kanye West & Rihanna - Run This Town. Getting down to the wire. I really like the song, but I’m not sure it deserved a top-three collabo spot.
• 1:20am - Kanye’s verse isn’t nearly as good when it’s censored.
• 1:22am - #2 - Dr. Dre feat. Eminem - Forgot About Dre. Excellent. Easily my favorite rap song of all time. Three sick verses. I could recite every lyric in my sleep. Real happy it got the respect from Fuse that it deserves.
• 1:24am - “All I know is that I’m upstairs listening to my Will Smith CD, and I’m seeing all these flames everywhere… Hold on a minute… DETROIT WHAT? DETROIT WHAT?” God, I love Eminem.
• 1:25am - And they just cut off the song before Dre’s last verse. I could throw my laptop through the tv right now.
• 1:26am - #1 - Aerosmith feat. Run DMC - Walk This Way. Blah. Very predictable. Good song and somewhat revolutionary, but there are certainly better songs.
• 1:27am - I really don’t want to see Steven Tyler’s ugly mug on the #1 hip hop collaboration of all time.
• 1:32am - Most glaring omissions. Jay-Z & Eminem - Renegade, T.I. feat. Kanye West, Jay-Z, & Lil-Wayne - Swagger Like Us, Kanye West feat. Jay-Z - Diamonds from Sierra Leone, Tupac Shakur feat. Dr. Dre - California Love
• 1:35am - Well that was fun. Over the next few days I’m also recording both Fuse’s Sexiest Hip Hop Videos and Fuse’s Sexiest Under 25 list. There may be updates on both.

I highly suggest following Catalog Living. Easily the funniest tumblr page I’ve seen in a while.

In other news, I haven’t slept in a bed on the weekend since June 12th.

So I’m not going to be able to make it to Lolla this year, but I took a look at the recently released lineup and decide that this would probably be my schedule if I was going. This of course doesn’t account for the inevitable drinking, waiting in food/bathroom lines, and wandering around early in the day to check out unknown bands (which is one of the best parts). It also doesn’t allow for time spent “camping out” to get close to the stage for an act I really want to see. But here goes my first attempt:

Friday

• 11:30 - 12:15 - B.o.B.
• 12:15 - 1:00 - Wavves/Lunch (don’t know the Wavves but I’ve heard good things)
• 1:00 - 2:00 - The Walkmen
• 2:00 - 3:00 - Raphael Saadiq
• 3:00 - 4:00 - Drive-by Truckers
• 4:00 - 5:00 - The New Photographers (hopefully hearing Devo’s Whip It as you pass by the stage)
• 5:00 - 6:00 - Matt & Kim / beers and snack
• 6:00 - 7:15 - Black Keys (a recent HUGE obsession of mine)
• 7:15 - 8:00 - Jimmy Cliff / dinner
• 8:00 - 8:30 - Lady Gaga (she’ll be looking hot for sure)
• 8:30 - 10:00 - the Strokes

Saturday

• 11:30 - 12:00 - Mimicking Birds
• 12:00 - 12:30 - The Morning Benders
• 12:30 - 1:15 - The Soft Pack
• 1:15 - 1:45 - Lunch / Wild Beasts
• 1:45 - 2:45 - Blues Traveler (I’d mostly walk around before this point - don’t really know any of those early bands)
• 2:45 - 3:15 - Stars
• 3:15 - 4:15 - The XX / beers
• 4:15 - 4:45 - Grizzly Bear
• 4:45 - 5:45 - AFI (I’d be very interested to see what type of show they put on)
• 5:45 - 6:15 - Metric / snack and beers
• 6:15 - 7:30 - Spoon (fork)
• 7:30 - 7:45 - dinner
• 7:45 - 8:30 - Green Day
• 8:30 - 10:00 - Phoenix

Sunday (there isn’t much room for dinner on Sunday)

• 11:30 - 12:15 - HEALTH
• 12:15 - 1:00 - The Antlers / Lunch
• 1:00 - 2:00 - Switchfoot
• 2:00 - 3:00 - Cribs / beers
• 3:00 - 4:00 - Mumford and Sons
• 4:00 - 4:30 - Yaesayer
• 4:30 - 5:00 - see if that’s actually the Verve Pipe on the Kids stage and if they’re allowed to play Bittersweet Symphony
• 5:00 - 6:00 - Erykah Badu
• 6:00 - 7:15 - MGMT
• 7:15 - 8:30 - The National (meaning I’d miss Cyprus Hill, which would be an unfortunate casualty)
• 8:30 - 10:00 - Arcade Fire (saw them at ‘05 Lolla, they put on an incredible show)