And before that...

Man oh man.

Last night when I got to my boy's house he had FLOWERS for me, because he is NICER THAN A BOY. The big fat pretty kind of flowers that I always used to buy for myself when i went through this "buying flowers for myself all the time" phase a few years ago. They're so pretty and smell nice and they make it springtime. And it -is- springtime. It's so nice out today.

And last night -- oh! Happy St. Patrick's Day by the way! -- we went to see Flogging Molly for St Patrick's Eve and it was the most fun I've had since I moved here. It was so perfect. Strange, because there was definitely this rough and rowdy and drunk element but somehow it wasn't annoying or scary it was just like... drunk Irish roughhousing joy. There was nothing sinister about it at all, I think that's what I loved. I mean, how much sinisterity can go on when there's an accordian and a fiddle on stage, right?

Oh and speaking of the accordian, even though my boy got me flowers and is so unbelievably good I've got to say, with all due respect, I still have such a soft spot in my heart for Matt Hensley. Did I ever tell you about the time I wrote him fan mail when I was like 16 or 17? I have no idea what prompted me to do so, I think it was after the interview issue of Transworld came out with him in it (Two pieces of background info here: When i worked at that newsstand in high school, all i did was read skate magazines. Partly because cute boys, but also partly cause the way they handled music and art was so spot-on, skate mags were really just youth culture mags that had lots of skating in them. You know there were always the stupid interviews with skaters that invariably -- IN-VARIABLY -- WITHOUT VARIATION -- contained the phrase "progressing with my skating" but then every once in a while there would be a feature on you know, Ed Templeton and his paintings and it would just be brilliant. It was all definitely male-focused and that's a shame, though girls didn't really skate as much at the time as they do now, it was like Carabeth and... Carabeth. So yeah, the target demographic for these magazines was boys only. But I liked them so much better than magazines made for girls.. Sassy was so wonderful, such a breath of fresh air but it was -still- so loaded with hair and makeup and clothes and not enough about you know, teenage girl painters with cult followings. Though, maybe that's cause there were none. But Sassy could have -made- them, -given- them cult followings, like they essentially did with Riot Grrl. UGH but even with that, it's like... focusing on girls talking about What It Means to Be a Girl, it's like what about LIFE? Let's talk about life and art and STUFF. I mean certainly there was a -need- (is a need) to talk about feminism and acknowledge inequities but like, where was the article about Carabeth in Sassy? You know? They totally should have done one. OK but the thing that was so great about skate mags to me at the time was that they were about Good youth culture.. not the kind of shite you were going to read in spin or rolling stone and more easily found in a newstand in wilmington delaware than some high-minded zine.. not that i know of any zines that would have done as good a job of it. It was the real shit, it just happened to be buried in loads of trick tips and trucks ads.

Then Dirt happened, and everything became clear. Well, not crystal clear.. Dirt should have recognized and embraced that they were a unisex magazine and not just "sassy for boys" like they said. (i know it would have been impossible to pitch it and publish it and market it as such, but that's a problem with magazine publishing, and problems should get fixed.) I guess there was advice skewed in there towards the teenage boy perspective but like: Here. Classic example. Mike D wrote an article in Dirt about money, about making money, managing your money, teenage money tips. What the fuck did that have to do with having a penis? That was an article for TEENAGERS, not teenage boys. If dirt had just made like two advice columns, one for boys and one for girls, or even one where boys and girls sort of engaged in a dialogue (about relationships, sex, whatever those advice columns are always about) then Bing. Perfect Teenage Magazine. Flawless. I would have eaten that shit up. I might be naive in thinking that all teenage girls would have eaten that shit up though. But i really think given the chance they would, it's just that maybe not enough of them would have been inclined to pick it up off a newstand. It would be a challenge. But man that's my goal in life, is to make THAT MAGAZINE and make it successful. DON'T STEAL MY IDEA. I think it would do really good things for young girls to read about engaging in life rather than just looking good for it. And I think it would do really good things for boys to be reminded on a continual basis that girls are humans that want to Do Stuff, and not just be Girls.

OK anyway remember how this all started out in a parenthetical about two pieces of background information? The second piece was that I realized last week that in some completely ill-conceived effort at getting rid of some shit before i schlepped it all out to LA, i RECYCLED my giant pile of early 90s transworlds and thrashers. FUCKING IDIOT. I know, I KNOW i must have made an effort to at least keep the one with the huge illustrated Ed Templeton article (minus a bunch of drawings that i cut out and hung in my locker) but for the life of me i can't find it. The Lesson Is: Fine, I'm a packrat, but i DO actually go back and refer to the shit that i save. Therefore, I am never throwing anything away again ever.

End parentheses.)

but I wrote him this little note, little piece of fan mail.. not like me really. I didn't write fan mail a lot except i wrote a letter to sassy (and got it published!) and i wrote a letter to dirt, and i wrote a letter to matt hensley to tell him i had liked his interview. And he wrote me back a nice little note and included one of the super old H-Street stickers of that drawing of him in the classic Ian MacKaye head in hands pose.

OK. SOMETHING IS AFOOT. i know for a FACT i saved that note, and the sticker, and i put it in my box of good things, and i just looked and it's not there. Clearly, someone stole all my good skate shit. Now i feel better, cause i knew i wasn't so stupid as to throw away all those magazines. BUT DUDE. GIVE ME BACK MY LITTLE NOTE FROM MATT HENSLEY WITH THE STICKER. And all my old transworlds and thrashers.

Man looking through that little box was quite the little black hole of nostalgia though. I'm good at saving things. I saved good things. Looking through that box was tingly.

Anyway, i like caffeine.

And the flogging molly show was so fucking good. And my boy bought me flowers and it's spring.

Have a good day.