the midwest

Ted: The cuter the
Animal, the tastier
It is grilled. Me: Oh.

Talk about culture shock. I went to RibAmerica with my folks today (well, technically yesterday, now), and it was a trip. The sheer... midwestern-ness of it astonished me. There were some things I was okay with: the, like, twelve different booths harping their award-winning barbecue were pretty cool (I tried the BBQ sauce at several, and I have to say that it was delicious). The booth devoted to grilled, butter-dipped sweet corn, which had one of the longest lines at the event, was pretty quaint. And their corn was awesome.

No, it was Ted that did it. And he's from Detroit! I guess that counts as the Midwest. Anyway, I had multiple crazy laughing fits during his concert. A few things that set them off:

Ted: *raises two machine guns from nowhere into the air high above his head* ...and we should give machine guns to every child! And to skinny girls, too! Fat bitches can reload 'em. Gotta keep them busy! And I know you're wondering, "does Ted have a permit for giving machine guns to kids?" Well, I got your permit right *drops the machine guns and flips the bird* HERE!!! That's for you, Obama!
Crowd: *screams*

Drunk guy next to me: *shakes my shoulder* This part is AWESOME!! Watch!
Ted: *wearing a ridiculous Native American headdress, pulls a hunting bow from behind a speaker, loads it, sets the arrow on fire, poises his white guitar across the stage, and proceeds to shoot it* I sacrificed my Great White Buffalo!
Drunk guy next to me: RIGHT IN THE X!! YEAH!!!
Crowd: *screams*

Ted: And I love huntin' season! The cuter the animal is, the tastier it is when you grill it! That's why I love vegetarians; vegetables are fuckin' ugly and that's all those sonuvabitches eat! *continues talking about killing animals*
Crowd: *screams*

Ted: Now they don't know it yet, but all my boys (he was talking about the players, sound guys, etc. for his band) have 12-gauge, riot shotguns waitin for 'em at the end of the night! Because I think that with more guns and ammunition, they'll do an even more kickass job!
Crowd: *screams*

In addition to those times, it was pretty excellent to hear him adlibbing his own songs to include lines about BBQ. Bahahahahaha!

Oh, the Midwest.

a week

In a week I see
How Bloomington sits, awaits
School with bated breath.

Now that I've been in here for a week, I've finally grown accustomed to the rhythm of this town. As the last freshmen are moved in and the moving trucks are driven away, it's settling back into what it really is: the #5 party school in the nation (according to Playboy). It's interesting. Watching all these silly kids walking around, trashed, in the middle of the afternoon, I've had some ample time to wonder about things like our drinking age and why it's so high (I feel like that leads to more people binge drinking during their early years of college because they simply haven't been taught how to drink responsibly), as well as what it is that makes some parents try to control their kids' lives to such an extent that college is a time when they simply go crazy. I'm glad that my maw and paw saw fit to let me gradually take control of my own time. It's helped me immensely since starting college.

Things in this apartment are slowly working themselves out, too. I feel like we're not all around very much, but I guess that's okay. Post-its and whiteboards have become useful means of communication. Maybe we'll settle in together a little more once school starts for real.

Anyway, my adventure for today is that Ted Nugent concert. \m/ Rawk!